| San Antonio Spurs | |
|---|---|
| Position | General manager |
| League | NBA |
| Personal information | |
| Born | |
| Career history | |
| 2019–present | San Antonio Spurs |
Brian Wright (born 1983) has been the general manager of theSan Antonio Spurs since August 2019.[1][2][3]
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.
Wright, the youngest of three brothers and sisters, was raised inSilver Spring, Maryland.[6]
A 5-foot-9 guard, he played Division III basketball atLa Sierra University inRiverside, 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 atUCF College of Business to earn a master's degree in sport business management (MSBM) from theDeVos Sport Business Management program in 2007.[8]
Wright worked for theNational Consortium for Academics and Sports (2006–07) underRichard Lapchick, theOrlando Magic (2006–14) for eight years, moving up the ranks from summer intern to player development and college scouting manager,[9] and then to theDetroit Pistons (2014–16) for two years as an assistant general manager.[10]
In August 2016, Wright became the assistant general manager ofSan Antonio Spurs, stepping into the position previously held by current GMBrooklyn Nets GMSean Marks[11] and long-time GMScott Layden.[12] In the summer of 2019, Wright was the key player in the re-signing ofRudy Gay,[3] and arranging the trade that steeredDeMarre 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 selectedDevin Vassell with the 11th pick in the2020 NBA draft, their highest draft pick sinceTim Duncan in1997.[14] They then draftedTre 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 ofGorgui Dieng and waivedMarquese Chriss.[15][16][17][18]
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