 Kupchak at theWhite House with the Lakers in 2010 | |||||||||||||||
| Charlotte Hornets | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Position | Advisor | ||||||||||||||
| League | NBA | ||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
| Born | (1954-05-24)May 24, 1954 (age 70) Brentwood, New York, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 230 lb (104 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Brentwood (Brentwood, New York) | ||||||||||||||
| College | North Carolina (1972–1976) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1976: 1st round, 13th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Selected by theWashington Bullets | |||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1976–1986 | ||||||||||||||
| Position | Power forward /center | ||||||||||||||
| Number | 25, 41 | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
| 1976–1981 | Washington Bullets | ||||||||||||||
| 1981–1986 | Los Angeles Lakers | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights and awards | |||||||||||||||
As player:
As executive: | |||||||||||||||
| Career statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Points | 5,202 (10.2 ppg) | ||||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 2,730 (5.4 rpg) | ||||||||||||||
| Assists | 377 (0.7 apg) | ||||||||||||||
Stats at NBA.com  | |||||||||||||||
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Mitchell Kupchak (born May 24, 1954) is an American professionalbasketball executive and retired player. He is the former president of basketball operations and general manager of theCharlotte Hornets of theNational Basketball Association (NBA). As a college player, Kupchak was anAll-American at theUniversity of North Carolina and a member of the gold medal-winning1976 United States Olympic team. As a professional player, he won three NBA titles – one as a member of theWashington Bullets and two with theLos Angeles Lakers.
Mitchell Kupchak was born on May 24, 1954, inBrentwood, New York. He attendedBrentwood High School, where he excelled inbasketball.[1]
He was anAll-American on theNorth Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team,[2] and was namedAtlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in his senior season.[3] Kupchak played on the gold medal-winning team at the1976 Summer Olympics inMontreal.[4]
Kupchak was drafted by theWashington Bullets in 1976 and was named to theNBA All-Rookie Team. He had four productive seasons with Washington and was part of the team that won theNBA championship in 1978.
He signed a long-term contract with the Lakers in 1981 at the behest ofEarvin "Magic" Johnson, who told ownerJerry Buss, "If we could get Mitch Kupchak, I know we could win", after the team's playoff upset.[5] 26 games into the season, Kupchak injured his knee and did not play again until the1983–84 season.
Kupchak played a key role in theShowtime Lakers' 1985 championship team against the Boston Celtics, who had intimidated them in the prior year's Finals. Kupchak retired after the 1985–86 season, having played 510 regular season and 68 playoff games, with regular season averages of 10.2 points per game and 5.4 rebounds per game (7.7 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game in the playoffs). During his final game, Game 5 of theWestern Conference Finals, a brawl broke out between the Lakers and theHouston Rockets, which saw Kupchak andHakeem Olajuwon ejected.[citation needed]
Kupchak planned for his "life after" being an NBA player and pursued a focused program to learn the trade of running NBA team operations. While still under his initial player contract, he worked with the front office, developing strong working relationships with Laker management, beginning to "apprentice" with Jerry West, and starting studies that led to hisMBA from theUCLA Anderson School of Management in 1987.[6]
Kupchak retired from playing in 1986, and became the Lakers' assistant general manager (under GM andBasketball Hall of FamerJerry West). He later succeeded West as General Manager, but was not considered to have all of the traditional powers of an NBA GM until 2000 (when West resigned as Vice President of Basketball Operations, for the challenge of trying to replicate the Lakers' level of success as GM of the recently relocated, last-placeMemphis Grizzlies).
On July 16, 2003, after the Lakers failed to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in three years, Kupchak's first major deal was the off-season acquisitions of superstarsKarl Malone andGary Payton (who had both failed to win an NBA championship despite long, Hall of Fame-caliber careers).[7] After a number of controversial trade transactions over the years, including the trade ofShaquille O'Neal to theMiami Heat forLamar Odom,Caron Butler, andBrian Grant—as well as the decision not to trade young centerAndrew Bynum for point guardJason Kidd—Kupchak faced severe criticism from Lakers franchise starKobe Bryant, who urged his firing. However, Kupchak reportedly still had the support of the team's owner.[citation needed]
In 2007, Kupchak tradedBrian Cook andMaurice Evans forTrevor Ariza, and the Lakers started the season off with the best record in the West. After an injury to Andrew Bynum cast their recent success in doubt, his February 2008 deal to obtain Spanish power forwardPau Gasol from theMemphis Grizzlies forKwame Brown,Javaris Crittenton,Aaron McKie, and draft picks (one of which was the right toMarc Gasol) earned him praise (and scorn) from league insiders and fans alike. Bryant later conceded, "He goes from a F to an A-plus.",[5] whileGregg Popovich, coach of Western Conference rivalSan Antonio Spurs, went so far as to argue that "there should be a trade committee that can scratch all trades that make no sense".[8] That year, the Lakers reached the NBA Finals for the 5th time in 9 years, butwould eventually lose to the Boston Celtics. The following year, theyreturned and won in a 4–1 rout over theOrlando Magic.
In 2009, Kupchak signed 2004 Defensive Player of the YearRon Artest, famous for his role in thePacers-Pistons Brawl, as a free agent. The Lakers made it totheir seventh NBA Finals in 11 years, winning in a championship re-match against the Celtics in the 2010 NBA Finals. 2011 saw the retirement of longtime coach Phil Jackson, replacing him withMike Brown, as well as an attempted three-team trade of Odom and Gasol to theHouston Rockets, in exchange for theNew Orleans Hornets' All-Star point guard,Chris Paul[9] Because the Hornets (a financial failure for its previous owners) was still owned by the NBA, CommissionerDavid Stern vetoed the trade for unspecified "basketball reasons"—leaving the Lakers with a publicly disgruntled Odom, and shocked Gasol (both of whom intended to end their careers as Lakers, and had not known that they were about to be traded).[10]
On July 4, 2012, after two consecutive playoff exits in the Western Conference semi-final round, Kupchak used a traded player exception (gained by trading Odom to theDallas Mavericks) on two-time, former NBA Most Valuable Player,Steve Nash. The deal to get Nash in a Laker uniform was finalized for a package of future draft picks and cash considerations.[11] That same summer, Kupchak dealtAndrew Bynum, who had just been voted to his first All-Star team, in a four-way trade for his Eastern Conference counterpart, three-time Defensive Player of the YearDwight Howard.[12] The move was announced August 10, 2012. But the flurry of personnel changes did not stop there: Kupchak had also convinced former All-Star andSixth Man of the Year winnerAntawn Jamison to sign for a veteran-minimum contract. He later, along with owner Jerry Buss and Vice President of Basketball OperationsJim Buss (Jerry's son), also fired defense-minded head coach Mike Brown and replaced him with Nash's former head coach, offense-mindedMike D'Antoni.[13][14]
During the 2013–14 season, Kupchak and the Lakers gaveKobe Bryant a 2-year, $48.5 million extension despite his being out due to an Achilles injury. The deal was reportedly endorsed by team presidentJeanie Buss. D'Antoni resigned as coach of the Lakers after the team declined to pick up their option for him to coach in 2015–16, leaving Kupchak and Jim Buss the task of hiring a third coach in four years.[15] They decided on former Lakers guardByron Scott. The Lakers announced in April 2014 that Kupchak's own contract had been extended for multiple years. It was scheduled to expire after the 2014 season. Terms of the contract were not released.[16]
On February 21, 2017, Kupchak was fired as general manager of the Lakers.[17]
On April 8, 2018, Kupchak was hired as the president of basketball operations and general manager of theCharlotte Hornets. On June 21, 2018, Kupchak made his first draft selection as the general manager of the Charlotte Hornets. He selectedShai Gilgeous-Alexander with the 11th pick, who was subsequently traded to theLos Angeles Clippers forMiles Bridges, who was selected with the 12th pick.[18] On February 12, 2024, Kupchak stepped down from his position atop the basketball operations hierarchy and transitioned into an advisory role upon the hire of former Nets assistant GM Jeff Peterson.[19]
Kupchak was inducted into theSuffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Long Island in the Basketball Category with the Class of 1990. In 2002, he was inducted into theNational Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame.[20][21] In 2022 he divorced from his wife Claire, with whom he had two children.[22] His daughter, Alina Claire Kupchak, died on January 5, 2015, after a lengthy illness.[23][24] His son Maxwell played as a forward for theUC Santa Barbara basketball team.[25]
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