Hall of Famer 'Serious Candidate' to Become New Head of Basketball Ops for Pelicans

Joe Dumars is expected to land the role of executive vice president of basketball operations for the Pelicans.

Joe Dumars is expected to become the lead basketball executive for the New Orleans Pelicans. / Kirthmon F. Dozier, Detroit Free Press via Imagn Content Services, LLC

Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer Joe Dumars is a serious candidate to replace David Griffin as the new executive vice president of basketball operations for the New Orleans Pelicans, according to a report from ESPN's Shams Charania.

Dumars and the Pelicans are expected to engage in conversations to finalize a deal before the end of the week.

Dumars was the 2003 Executive of the Year when he ran basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons. He was the architect behind Detroit's 2004 NBA title as well.

The 61-year-old Dumars has been serving internally as the NBA's head of basketball operations, a role that he's held since 2022. Since departing from his role with the Pistons in 2014, Dumars has only held one other front office role - with the Sacramento Kings - when he served as a special advisor to the general manager from 2019-22.

---

More NBA on Sports Illustrated

feed