Brian Wright (basketball)

Last updated
Brian Wright
San Antonio Spurs
PositionGeneral manager
League NBA
Personal information
Born Silver Spring, Maryland
Career history
2019–present San Antonio Spurs

Brian Wright (born 1983) has been the general manager of the San Antonio Spurs since August 2019. [1] [2] [3]

Contents

Wright is a contributor to two books: '100 Heroes: People in Sports Who Make This a Better World' [4] and '150 Heroes'. [5]

He and his wife, Cara, have two children.

Early life and career

Wright, the youngest of three brothers and sisters, was raised in Silver Spring, Maryland. [6]

A 5-foot-9 guard, he played Division III basketball at La Sierra University in Riverside, California for which he was inducted into the Riverside Sports Hall of Fame for his exceptional play during the 2003 and 2004 seasons. [7]

Wright attended graduate school at UCF College of Business to earn a master's degree in sport business management (MSBM) from the DeVos Sport Business Management program in 2007. [8]

Wright worked for the National Consortium for Academics and Sports (2006–07) under Richard Lapchick, the Orlando Magic (2006–14) for eight years, moving up the ranks from summer intern to player development and college scouting manager, [9] and then to the Detroit Pistons (2014–16) for two years as an assistant general manager. [10]

San Antonio Spurs

In August 2016, Wright became the assistant general manager of San Antonio Spurs, stepping into the position previously held by current GM Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks [11] and long-time GM Scott Layden. [12] In the summer of 2019, Wright was the key player in the re-signing of Rudy Gay, [3] and arranging the trade that steered DeMarre Carroll to San Antonio. [3]

R.C. Buford, long-time GM, was promoted to CEO in 2019. In July 2019, San Antonio Spurs announced the promotion of Wright to general manager. [13]

Wright and the Spurs organization selected Devin Vassell with the 11th pick in the 2020 NBA draft, their highest draft pick since Tim Duncan in 1997. [14] They then drafted Tre Jones with the 41st pick. Following the draft picks, Wright said “The league has really changed, where you really looked at guys as one-position players, and you’re either a one, a two, a three, a four, or a five. What you see now is you’ve got guards, you’ve got wings and you’ve got bigs...You want guys that are versatile and can play multiple positions, and I think with Devin for sure he can play across multiple positions, and as he gets stronger, he’ll be able to do that even more...He’ll be able to play one through four in a few years” [14]

On March 29, 2021, Wright spearheaded the signing of Gorgui Dieng and waived Marquese Chriss. [15] [16] [17] [18]

See also

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References

  1. ↑ "Brian Wright". San Antonio Spurs.
  2. ↑ Daniels, Tim. "Brian Wright Promoted to Spurs GM; R.C. Buford Gets New Role with Organization". Bleacher Report.
  3. 1 2 3 "San Antonio Spurs: All you need to know about new GM Brian Wright". July 22, 2019.
  4. ↑ "100 Heroes: People in Sports Who Make This a Better World: Richard E. Lapchick: 9780977739905: Amazon.com Books". Amazon. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  5. ↑ "150 heroes: people in sport who make this world a better: Lapchick, Richard Edward: Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive". Internet Archive. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  6. ↑ Mayo, David (March 31, 2016). "Detroit Pistons Q&A: Assistant GM Brian Wright absosrbed in NBA Draft prep". Michigan Live. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  7. ↑ Tucker, Darla. "San Antonio Spurs GM inspires students in biz school talk, receives inaugural Hall of Fame award". La Sierra University. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  8. ↑ Moyle, Nick (July 21, 2016). "Gregg Popovich believes Brian Wright will 'thrive' with Spurs". mySA.
  9. ↑ "Pistons hire Wright as assistant GM". USA Today. July 7, 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  10. ↑ "Detroit Pistons Name Brian Wright as Assistant General Manager". CBS Detroit. July 8, 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  11. ↑ Ohm, Youngmisook and Mazzeo, Mike (February 19, 2016). "New Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks has 'clear vision' for team". ESPN. Retrieved January 19, 2025.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  12. ↑ Hunt, Ben. "Spurs Name Scott Layden Assistant General Manager". NBA.com. Retrieved January 19, 2025.
  13. ↑ "Spurs promote Buford to CEO, Wright to GM". ESPN. July 23, 2019. Retrieved 19 January 2025.
  14. 1 2 "Grading the 2020 NBA Draft | Spurs land elite wing Vassell, Duke standout Jones". wwltv.com.
  15. ↑ "Spurs GM Brian Wright showed craftiness in Chriss and Dieng deals". March 30, 2021.
  16. ↑ "Spurs GM Brian Wright showed craftiness in Chriss and Dieng deals". March 29, 2021.
  17. ↑ "SPURS SIGN GORGUI DIENG". San Antonio Spurs.
  18. ↑ "Spurs waive Chriss after Warriors trade to open roster spot". RSN.
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