The Washington Wizards’ search for a president of basketball operations will continue. Denver Nuggets’ president of basketball operations Tim Connelly will remain with the team, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
Connelly met with the Wizards on Friday and according to Wojnarowski was given an offer, however, a last-ditch effort from the Nuggets’ ownership convinced Connelly to stay put and spurn the team that he started his front office career with.
This is major blow to the Wizards, who had Connelly at the top of their list of candidates to replace the fired Ernie Grunfeld. The Wizards waited for the Nuggets, who finished 54-28 and the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference, to be eliminated from the playoffs before getting permission to interview Connelly.
Connelly has helped build a talented and deep roster that is now considered a contender in the loaded Western Conference. A second-round exit from the playoffs a season after missing the playoffs by one game, was considered a huge leap. As it stands, the Nuggets appear more promising.
The Wizards are in store for a rebuild of some sorts after a disappointing 32-50 season that was dampened with the season-ending torn Achilles injury of John Wall. The cornerstone player is expected to miss a significant portion of the 2019-20, if not all, just as his super max extension kick starts with an annual average of $42 million.
Additionally, the Wizards have five players on the roster with a total salary of $90 million according to HoopsHype. Those five players include Wall, Bradley Beal, Troy Brown Jr., and two disappointing centers Ian Mahinmi, and Dwight Howard, who missed 73 games this season with a lower back injury.
With Connelly out, the Wizards’ search presumably will turn to the other candidates they’ve reportedly interviewed. That list includes Danny Ferry, Troy Weaver of the Oklahoma City Thunder, and Wizards interim Tommy Sheppard.
Weaver had a second interview with the Wizards last week, according to the Athletic.
