Thunder's Will Dawkins Reportedly to Be Hired as Wizards' General Manager

The Washington Wizards plan to hire Oklahoma City Thunder executive Will Dawkins as their next general manager, The Athletic's David Aldridge and Josh Robbins reported Monday.

Dawkins, 37, will take over as the organization's second-highest-ranked executive behind Michael Winger, the president of Monumental Basketball. He spent the last three seasons as one of the Thunder's two vice presidents of basketball operations and was a key piece of the team's rebuild.

He spent the last 15 years in Oklahoma City.

Dawkins is part of a full front-office rebuild. The Wizards fired former general manager Tommy Sheppard in April after they missed the playoffs for a second consecutive season.

Winger, who was given the power to oversee the hiring of the franchise's next general manager, has a history with Dawkins. The two worked together in Oklahoma City from 2010 until 2017 before the former took over as general manager of the Clippers.

Now, he's giving the young executive the biggest opportunity of his career.

Dawkins was given more responsibility with the Thunder after former vice president/assistant general manager Troy Weaver left to take the GM job with the Detroit Pistons. He helped with the franchise's rebuild, which has led to one of the more exciting, young teams in the NBA with talents like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Josh Giddey.

He'll have his work cut out for him in the nation's capital, where he'll try to resurrect a franchise that's made the playoffs only once in the last five seasons. The turnaround will have to be quick, as the Wizards have the No. 8 pick in the NBA draft on June 22.

The Athletic reported that Winger is set to give Dawkins "a wide runway in overseeing basketball operations" as he tries to lead the franchise into a new era.