TUESDAY, 8:50am: The Wizards made it official today, announcing that Grunfeld and the team have agreed to terms on a contract extension. Team owner Ted Leonsis explained the decision in his blog this morning.
MONDAY, 7:28pm: The Wizards will retain team president Ernie Grunfeld, reports Michael Lee of the Washington Post. An official announcement may come as early as Tuesday. There's no word on the financial terms of his new deal, but it's believed to cover at least two seasons. Grunfeld's current contract is up at the end of this season.
The Wizards have gone 282-438 since 2003, when Grunfeld was put in charge by former owner Abe Pollin. Still, current owner Ted Leonsis likes what Grunfeld has done in acquiring cap space and draft picks while trading away unwanted high-priced talent in recent years, Lee writes. Grunfeld's current deal makes him one of the league's highest-paid executives, giving him somewhere between $3.5MM and $4.5MM a year. Teams have scaled back salaries for team presidents and general managers of late as a way to offset losses, so it's likely his new deal will be for less than what he was making.
Grunfeld's future has been in doubt, and we recently heard that one NBA executive told Lee he expected the team and Grunfeld to part ways soon. Last month a report suggested Grunfeld turned down a three-year, $4.5MM extension, but sources told Lee no such offer was made.
It's been a year of major moves for the rebuilding Wizards, who let Flip Saunders go after a 2-15 start and acquired Nene Hilario in a three-team deal that sent away Nick Young and JaVale McGee.