Tommy Sheppard may have been the lead man for the Washington Wizards during last Thursday’s NBA Draft, but the team appears to be still considering others to fill the vacant team president of basketball operations position.
Wizards owner Ted Leonsis told Adam Zielonka of the Washington Times, that Danny Ferry is “still in the running” for the Wizards’ position.
Leonsis and Ferry were among Charles Mann and several others being honored Sunday at Nationals Park as part of the 2019 class of the DC Sports Hall of Fame.
Ferry interviewed with the Wizards on Apr. 30. The Wizards had since offered the position to Denver Nuggets’ president of basketball operations Tim Connelly. However, he opted to remain with the Nuggets, turning down the Wizards’ offer.
That led a month full of silence on the status of the opening until reports surfaced the Wizards were interested in talking to Toronto Raptors’ president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri. However, Leonsis has since denied those rumors.
Meanwhile, Sheppard has operated as the interim GM since Ernie Grunfield was fired by the Wizards on Apr. 2.
Sheppard was led the process in drafting Rui Hachimura of Gonzaga with the ninth overall pick in last week’s NBA Draft. The team also added Admiral Schofield in the second round and veteran guard Jonathon Simmons in a trade with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Embed from Getty ImagesFerry, the son of former Washington Bullets general manager Bob Ferry, starred at DeMatha Catholic High School in Hyattsville, MD before having a stellar collegiate career at Duke. After his playing days in the NBA, Ferry has been the general manager for the Cleveland Cavaliers and Atlanta Hawks. He also served as interim GM for the New Orleans Pelicans before naming Trajan Landon for the permanent role.
“I enjoyed meeting Ted, I had never met him before and got to know him a little bit,” Ferry recently said on 106.7 the Fan’s Grant & Danny. “That said, it’s definitely more appropriate for the Wizards, as they’re going through their process, to lead the process.”
The long process to find a replacement for Grunfeld has led to many speculating that it’s a matter of time when Sheppard is named the permanent replacement. But with Leonsis’ latest claim, and Ben Standig of NBC Sports Washington confirming, it appears the process is far from over and decision won’t be made before free agency opens Jun. 30.
