According to Liam Willerup of Sports Illustrated on Wednesday, the New Orleans Pelicans have named Joe Dumars of Shreveport, Louisiana as their new president of basketball operations. Dumars takes over from David Griffin of Phoenix, Arizona, who was fired on Monday.
Dumars was previously the president of basketball operations for the Detroit Pistons from 2000 to 2014. In that time, he made National Basketball Association history. In 2004, he became the first African-American executive to win the NBA Finals. The Pistons defeated the Los Angeles Lakers in five games.
From there, Dumars was with the Sacramento Kings from 2019 to 2022. He held the roles of special advisor to the general manager of the Sacramento Kings, the Kings’s interim executive vice president of basketball operations, and the Kings’s chief strategy officer. Then over the last three seasons, Dumars has been the executive vice president and head of basketball operations for the entire NBA. He was in charge of conduct and discipline, including suspending Ja Morant of the Memphis Grizzlies for 25 games.
In New Orleans, Dumars takes over the Pelicans squad that had a record of 21 wins and 61 losses this past season. The Pelicans had significant injuries to Zion Williamson and Dejounte Murray.
As a player, Dumars was a Hall of Fame shooting guard with the Pistons from 1985 to 1999. He averaged 16.1 point per game, 4.5 assists per game, and 2.2 rebounds per game. Dumars had a field goal percentage of .460, three point percentage of .382, and a free throw percentage of .843. Six times Dumars was an All-Star (1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997) and twice Dumars won the NBA Finals (1989 and 1990). In fact, in 1989, Dumars was the NBA Finals Most Valuable Player. He averaged 27.3 points per game as Detroit swept the Lakers.
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