The Washington Wizards drawn out search for a president of basketball operations has hit another dead end. Ben Standig of NBC Sports Washington reported the Wizards were interested in Neil Olshey, the president of basketball operations for the Portland Trailblazers. Less than 24 hours later, the Trailblazers announced a multi-year contract extension for Olshey.
It’s unclear if the Wizards showed any deep interest before Olshey, but one thing is certain, the Wizards are running against time in finding a replacement for the fired Ernie Grunfeld.
The Wizards interviewed Oklahoma City Thunder vice president of basketball operations Troy Weaver, Danny Ferry, Gersson Rosas, Wizards interim president of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard, and Denver Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly.
However, Rosas was named to the same position for the Minnesota Timberwolves shortly after meeting with the Wizards. Connelly, who was reported to be Washington’s top choice, opted to remain with the more attractive Nuggets.
There is no indication what Washington’s next approach is, but they’ll need to sort of matters with the NBA Draft less than a month away Jun. 20.
At the time of Grunfeld’s dismissal, the Wizards were reportedly an attractive job. However, the prolonged search (approaching two months) and spurning of Connelly has illustrated otherwise.
