Inside The Spurs

San Antonio Spurs Make Several Changes to Basketball Operations Team

The San Antonio Spurs announced a slew of changes within their basketball operations team Sunday afternoon.
Matt Guzman|
Nov 13, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs general manager Brian Wright speaks with the media about the health and absence of coach Gregg Popovich before a game against the Washington Wizards at Frost Bank Center.
Nov 13, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs general manager Brian Wright speaks with the media about the health and absence of coach Gregg Popovich before a game against the Washington Wizards at Frost Bank Center. | Scott Wachter-Imagn Images

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San Antonio Spurs

SAN ANTONIO — After a busy offseason, the San Antonio Spurs have amped up their basketball operations staff behind general manager Brian Wright.

Announced Sunday, the Spurs promoted three team staffers to assistant general manager roles, headlining a slew of changes and additions with the regular season less than a month away.

Per Spurs: "San Antonio has promoted Hao Meng, Niraj Mulji and Dave Telep to assistant general manager roles. Xavi Schelling has been elevated to vice president of performance & wellness, while Adam Glessner (player personnel), Samson Kayode (scouting), Josh Fink (data science), Nick Repole (research & design) and Phil Cullen (basketball organizational development) have each been promoted to associate vice president."

Meng previously served as the team’s senior director of strategic analysis and basketball insight from 2022-25, after serving as director of the same department during the 2021–22 season. Muji and Telep have spent 12 and 13 seasons, respectively, with the Spurs in various roles.

Spurs Announce Basketball Ops Changes

In addition to the above moves, Brandon Leibsohn has been named chief of staff, Charlie Stevens is now director of grassroots scouting, Josh Ryan has been promoted to manager of basketball information systems and Kevin Xu becomes principal engineer and Austin Spurs analytics coordinator.

Leibsohn will serve as the Spurs' chief of staff as he enters his seventh season with the organization. Over the past three seasons, he held the role of senior manager of basketball strategy and legal affairs, following previous roles as manager of basketball strategy and legal affairs from 2020-22 and basketball strategy quality assurance assistant during the 2019–20 season.

The Spurs have also added Victor Azalbert as senior sports scientist and Jonathan Dickey as physical therapist. Dickey has spent the last three seasons with the San Francisco 49ers in the NFL.

Next season, the Spurs will continue searching for their first Western Conference playoff berth since 2019. Assuming Victor Wembanyama's health, such an outcome seems attainable heading into his third NBA season.

"It's no secret that it's very hard to win a ring," Wembanyama said as a rookie, "but I'm patient. I know it will happen at one point or another."

Behind a fresh roster — two rookies and three new faces have joined the fold since the end of last season — and a revamped basketball operations team, San Antonio likes its odds at a more successful campaign than its previous two seasons.

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Matt Guzman
MATT GUZMAN

Matt Guzman is a sports journalist and storyteller from Austin, Texas. He serves as a credentialed reporter and site manager for San Antonio Spurs On SI. In the world of professional sports, he’s a firm believer that athletes are people, too. He aims to spotlight the true, behind-the-scenes character of players and teams through strong narrative writing and sharp, hooking ledes.

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