Charlotte Hornets new executive vice president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson has moved quickly on making a new hire to serve alongside him.
The Charlotte Hornets are hiring Atlanta Hawks executive Dotun Akinwale as an assistant general manager, sources tell ESPN. Akinwale — a VP of Player Personnel with Hawks — is the first addition to new EVP of Basketball Operations Jeff Peterson’s staff.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 7, 2024
As Woj notes in the Tweet, this is the ‘first’ addition to Peterson’s staff. There will surely be more overhaul around the front office, and everyone all the way down to scouts and training staffers are at risk of being replaced.
Peterson and Akinwale have worked together before. They spent five years together on the staff in Atlanta as both made rapid ascents through NBA front office ranks. Like Peterson, Akinwale started as an intern fresh out of college. He didn’t climb the ranks quite as quickly as his new boss, but Akinwale took only nine years to be elevated to the Hawks VP of player personnel after starting at the very bottom of the NBA front office hierarchy. I’m not sure exactly how old he is, but he seems to be in his mid 30s as well.
There’s no defined role for what an assistant GM does, and I’m sure it varies widely from team to team. Apparently he helped organize the Hawks pre-draft workouts, which might continue to be part of his job here.
Regardless, Akinwale joins the Charlotte Hornets as another presumably young, bright mind as they try to become “the premier NBA franchise.” Time will tell if that actually happens, but it seems like the organization is trending towards younger and hungrier executives and away from the old guard of the previous regime.
