Michael Winger to Hire Assistant Basketball Exec With Wizards

Incoming Wizards head of basketball operations Michael Winger is likely to hire a top assistant to complement him in the front office, per Josh Robbins of The Athletic.

Wizards was said to complement Clippers head of basketball operations Lawrence Frank, and would like someone to fill a similar role in Washington, per Robbins. It remains to be seen what that individual’s title will be, though it could be GM, the title Winger held with the Clippers since 2017.

He is being hired to run all of Washington’s basketball operations, as we relayed here.

The person who Winger does hire will most likely focus on scouting and player evaluation, Robbins added.

Several rival executives expressed skepticism about running the Wizards and what the job will entail, in a story from Robbins and David Aldridge.

“I would have a lot of questions I would want to ask,” one executive said, via Aldridge and Robbins, “but the biggest one would be: Are you willing to start over and build from the bottom up? Can you stomach three to four years of struggle in the win column in order to position the team to win (at) a high level in the long run?’”

Winger will now be tasked with finding out the answers to those questions. Along with the Wizards, he will also oversee the G League’s Capital City Go-Go and WNBA’s Washington Mystics.