The Timberwolves plan to hire Steve Senior from the Grizzlies as an assistant general manager with a focus on player development, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic (Twitter links).
Senior has worked with several members of Minnesota’s organization in the past, including executive vice president of basketball operations Sachin Gupta and head coach Chris Finch with the Rockets, and assistant coach Pablo Prigioni with the Knicks, Krawczynski notes. Senior is highly regarded throughout the league.
Senior worked in player development with Memphis in addition to serving as director of video operations, per Chris Hine of The Star Tribune. He spent several years with the Knicks in player development and as a video coordinator, among other roles, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv, who adds that Senior is “well-respected” in New York.
It’s an interesting hire for the Timberwolves for a couple of different reasons. Firstly, they’re poaching Senior from the Grizzlies, the team that just beat them in the first round of the playoffs. Grizzlies GM Zach Kleiman was named the Executive of the Year earlier today, and player development has been a big factor in the team’s success.
Secondly, it’s one of the first major moves for Gupta, who received a first-place vote for Executive of the Year despite still only having an interim head of basketball operations title following the dismissal of Gersson Rosas in September. Minnesota previously signed Finch and all of his assistant coaches to multiyear contract extensions after the regular season concluded, and Finch and Gupta have publicly supported each other.