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There has been some speculation that Nick Ressler, the son of Atlanta Hawks owner Anthony Ressler, would not allow general manager Landry Fields to trade Trae Young if he wanted to, but Brian Windhorst's recent reporting suggests otherwise. “It's my understanding that assurances have been given that Landry Fields is the person who is getting to make those decisions,” Windhorst said when asked about the matter on his podcast. “I know that was an issue with the Dejounte Murray trade. that Travis Schlenk the previous general manager did not, was not in favor of that trade, and basically didn't do the negotiation that led to him eventually leaving midway through the season. I have been told and assured that is no longer the case, Landry is in complete and total control. Obviously Tony Ressler the owner get to sign off on all that stuff but, those words could be proven not correct down the line but that's the way it's been described to me.”
The Hornets' search is expected to focus on several sitting general managers, including Philadelphia's Elton Brand, New Orleans' Trajan Langdon, Cleveland's Mike Gansey and the LA Clippers' Trent Redden, sources said. Brooklyn's Jeff Peterson, Washington's Travis Schlenk and Sacramento's Wes Wilcox are among assistant GMs who will be in consideration, sources said. Peterson, Schlenk and Wilcox worked with the Atlanta Hawks when Schnall was one of the franchise's minority owners.
In hiring Michael Winger as president of Monumental Basketball, and Winger subsequently hiring Will Dawkins as the Wizards’ general manager and Travis Schlenk as senior vice president of player personnel, the Wizards now have three established executives who helped engineer quick turnarounds with the LA Clippers, Oklahoma City Thunder and Hawks, respectively. And Leonsis paid them at top rates for NBA executives, according to multiple league sources.
But I’m convinced this new group wants to blow it up and take it as far down to the studs as it can. The best way to do that would be to take the Miami offer, middling though it is, collect as many picks from the Heat (and, potentially, a third team) as possible, and call it a day. As intriguing as Ayton would be to build around, making that deal would tie Washington, again, to a mid-level rebuild. Whether or not they re-sign Kuzma and/or Porziņģis, they’d likely have to run at least a good chunk of last year’s team back. And I don’t think Winger, Dawkins and Schlenk want to do that.
The goal is to meld all of those experiences, in all of those places, into a cohesive battle plan for D.C. “I think that’s a strength of ours,” Dawkins said. “It’s a true strength of ours to be from different backgrounds, different markets, shared experiences. Michael and I obviously worked together in Oklahoma City, and we were able to talk through different strategies there as well, and come out connected. I will say that Travis’ experiences in Golden State and Atlanta, we’ll be able to heavily rely on those. Michael, in a big city, star players, heavily rely on those. And, in Oklahoma City, we kind of had two mountains. … we’ve all had a lot of shared experiences at high levels. And, once you put all that in a room, it’s gonna be a little janky for a little bit. But we’ll figure it out.”
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Said Winger: “I think it’s probably unorthodox in so far as Will and I are going to collaborate on every meaningful roster decision, every meaningful top-level executive decision, but there shouldn’t be a mistake: Will is running basketball operations for the Wizards. And whatever that day-to-day management requires, whatever decisions that requires, those are Will’s decisions to make. Corporate decisions, higher-level player personnel decisions, I’m certainly going to be involved. There’s gonna be a team of us involved. Coach (John) Thompson (III) is involved. Travis is involved. Wes (Unseld Jr.) will be involved. … We’re going to be a very collaborative group.”
Wizards hire former Hawks executive Travis Schlenk
Adrian Wojnarowski: The Wizards are hiring former Hawks President of Basketball Operations Travis Schlenk as Senior VP of Player Personnel, sources tell ESPN. New Wizards president Michael Winger lands a well-regarded talent evaluator and executive as he continues his search for a general manager.
Ressler told ESPN that he made the decision to move Travis Schlenk, then president of basketball operations, into an advisory role in late December because he was displeased with the front office's level of "collaboration and communication" in the wake of consecutive .500 seasons after a trip to the 2021 Eastern Conference finals.
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Trae Young booked a private flight without alerting team in playoffs last season?
"The relationship between Schlenk and Young has deteriorated over recent months. Issues began following Game 2 of the playoff series against the Miami Heat last year. In the return to Atlanta, Young chartered a private flight and did not inform the team, according to several people familiar with the situation. In the middle of the playoffs, Young was fined."
Q: So a lot has happened over the last couple of weeks, with Travis Schlenk stepping down, Kyle’s promotion. Just where do you guys stand with everything? And how excited are you guys to move forward? Landry Fields: Yeah, it’s I mean, with any transition, there’s hard times because it’s just transition and change, for sure. But looking forward, we’re very excited about the future. And Kyle, having him as my right hand man is something that, I think from the first day we had coffee together, I didn’t know him that well, we obviously played against each other. But, early this season before we hired him in his former role, there was something there that I was very intrigued by and was very positive and shared vision, shared alignment on values. So, I knew if there were to be a point where we had a future together, we would work out very well. So extremely excited about that, for sure.
Despite the Hawks announcing that Schlenk would still play a complementary part in their decision-making process after spending the past five-plus seasons heading their front office, league sources say he is no longer part of Atlanta’s operation in any way and is free to leave for another organization.
As Fox Sports’ Ric Bucher reported recently, league sources confirmed to The Athletic that Nick Ressler’s (the owner's 27-year-old son) effect on the decision-making process played a pivotal part in the power dynamics that ultimately lead to Schlenk’s exile. This was a bit of an open secret around the league, and it is clear that Nick Ressler’s voice is being heavily considered on all things Hawks these days.
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