76ers Make Several Significant Staff Changes
The Philadelphia 76ers' organization made a ton of moves this week, including personnel changes, contract extensions, and even unfortunate cuts to those who operate primarily behind the scenes.
Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer first reported on the Sixers' "black Friday" moves on Friday night. In his report, Pompey mentioned several notable names were getting the boot out of Philly.
Among those mentioned were scouts Rod Baker and Jordan Cohn, Scouting Coordinator Christian Endrigian, Delaware Blue Coats General Manager Matt Lilly, and the team's Senior Director of Equipment operations Scott Rego.
Although Pompey didn't have the full number of employees who will be cut loose from the organization, the Inquirer writer reports that "around 17 employees" were notified they are being let go. The reported motive behind the moves was to cut costs.
According to a team source, that's not the case.
Some team staffers did not have their contracts renewed with the organization, while others were unfortunately not retained for the upcoming season.
While the initial report states around 17 employees were let go for cost-cutting reasons, a source confirms it's 13 staffers, and some of the positions are expected to be refilled over time.
As expected, Sixers Co-Managing Partner Josh Harris took a lot of heat on social media Friday night following the reports. And Friday wasn't the first time that happened.
Over a year ago, when the NBA was amid the COVID-19 suspension, many organizations started making staff cuts to save money as teams around the league were no longer generating revenue with the schedule at a halt.
Josh Harris and the Sixers were reportedly preparing to furlough team employees early on in the pandemic. As Sixers center Joel Embiid stepped up and prepared to pay to keep some of the employees on board, Harris and the Sixers' Managing Group decided to quickly reverse the decision and kept everybody on board.
However, this round of staff departures isn't coming from the Managing Group. Instead, it was a decision that came from the Sixers' front office.
When President of Basketball Operations Daryl Morey came to Philly last season, the Sixers had one of the largest basketball operations staffs in the NBA. For the most part, the front office remained intact through year one of a new regime. Moving forward, the Sixers' front office will look slightly different as the basketball operations staff will bring in some new faces over time.
*This story has been updated with new information regarding the number of staffers moving on, and new details as to why staffers are leaving.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.
