The Washington Wizards are hiring Will Dawkins as the team’s general manager. Dawkins will serve as the No. 2 executive under President of Monumental Basketball Michael Winger in the team’s newly-shaped front office, per Joshua Robbins of The Athletic.
Owner Ted Leonsis hired Winger last month to broadly oversee the Wizards, G-League affiliate Capital City Go-Go and the WNBA’s Washington Mystics. Last week, Winger named former Atlanta Hawks president of basketball operations Travis Schlenk as the Wizards’ senior VP of player personnel and No. 3 figure in a superteam front office.
Dawkins has previously spent his entire NBA executive career with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He served as the Thunder’s vice president of basketball operations since 2020, working under executive vice president and general manager Sam Presti. Dawkins started as a front-office intern in 2009 with the Thunder.
Dawkins also has been a video coordinator and scouting coordinator. He was the director of college player personnel from 2012-2017. During that time, the Thunder drafted Steven Adams, Mitch McGary, Cameron Payne, and Terrance Ferguson in the first round.
Winger and Dawkins worked together in Oklahoma City. Winger was the Thunder’s assistant general manager from 2010-2017.
In recent years, Dawkins has had his hands in restricting the Thunder roster in the post-Russell Westbrook era. Oklahoma City built a young and competitive roster around guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. That included the drafting of Josh Giddy.
In Washington, Dawkins will run the day-to-day operations of the Wizards. He’ll have the final say in draft selection, trades, and free agency. Dawkins will operate under Winger’s five-year plan. Schlenk will oversee all of the scouting. Together the trio expects to usher the Wizards into a modern direction with hopes of transforming the destitute franchise.
The Wizards have made the postseason once since the 2017-18 season. The team has not won more than 35 games in any of the last five seasons despite having three-time All-Star Bradley Beal, who is the fourth-highest-paid player in the NBA this season with his $251 million supermax contract.
Winger, Dawkins, and Schlenk’s first order of business will be the upcoming NBA Draft in less than three weeks. The Wizards have the eighth overall draft pick and two second-round picks. Washington also has to decide on the futures of center Kristaps Porzingis and forward Kyle Kuzma.
Kuzma and Porzingis expect to decline their player’s options for the 2023-24 season, making them eligible for free agency. How Dawkins and Winger decide to address those two contract situations will be pivotal in the new direction of the destitute franchise.
