Kevin Lee Pritchard (born July 18, 1967) is an American

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

executive, and a former player and coach, who is currently the president of basketball operations for the Indiana Pacers. Pritchard played 4 seasons in the NBA as a player, and was also the general manager of the

Portland Trail Blazers The Portland Trail Blazers (colloquially known as the Blazers) are an American professional basketball team based in Portland, Oregon. The Trail Blazers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Con ...

, and the Indiana Pacers.

College career

Pritchard played college basketball for the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. T ...

, where, as a sophomore, he was the starting point guard on the Jayhawks team that defeated the

Oklahoma Sooners The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the "Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land Ru ...

for the 1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball championship.

Professional career

Pritchard was drafted by the Golden State Warriors of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

as the 34th overall pick in 1990. He had a six-year NBA career spanning five teams: the Warriors, the Boston Celtics, the Philadelphia 76ers, the

Miami Heat The Miami Heat are an American professional basketball team based in Miami. The Heat compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The club plays its home games at FT ...

, and the

Washington Bullets The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

. He was first player signed to the

Vancouver Grizzlies The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...

in 1995, although he was released before getting an opportunity to play a game for them. Pritchard's playing career also included a stint with Caceres C.B. in Spain, Pfizer Reggio Calabria in Italy in 1993-1994, and

Bayer Leverkusen Bayer 04 Leverkusen Fußball GmbH, also known as Bayer 04 Leverkusen (), Bayer Leverkusen, or simply Leverkusen, is a professional football club based in Leverkusen in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia. The club competes in the Bundesliga, t ...

in Germany 1996-1997. He retired from playing in 1998.

Executive career

Early coaching and management career

After a year working outside of basketball, Pritchard became the coach and general manager of the

Kansas City Knights The Kansas City Knights was the name of an American Basketball Association minor league basketball team based in Kansas City, Missouri. They have not played since the 2004–05 season. Franchise history The Knights were one of the ABA's chart ...

of the ABA, which he led to a championship in 2002. Later, he was hired by

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

general manager R. C. Buford to be a scout in the Spurs' organization, and two years later was hired by the

as director of player personnel. In 2005, when the Trail Blazers fired head coach

Maurice Cheeks Maurice Edward Cheeks (born September 8, 1956) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also served as head coach of t ...

, they named Pritchard as his interim replacement.

Portland Trail Blazers

In the 2006 off-season, the team fired John Nash, giving Steve Patterson the dual role of general manager and president, while Pritchard was promoted to assistant general manager. In 2007, Patterson resigned, and on March 29, Pritchard was named as the team's general manager. In December 2008, the Blazers attempted to block other NBA teams from signing

Darius Miles Darius LaVar Miles (born October 9, 1981) is an American former professional basketball player. The , forward was selected directly out of high school by the Los Angeles Clippers with the 3rd overall pick in the 2000 NBA draft. He was a Firs ...

solely for the purpose of negatively impacting the Blazers' salary cap situation. Miles ended up signing with the

Memphis Grizzlies The Memphis Grizzlies (referred to locally as the Grizz) are an American professional basketball team based in Memphis, Tennessee. The Grizzlies compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference ...

. In the summer of 2009, the Blazers added to their core of young talent by signing veterans

Andre Miller Andre Lloyd Miller (born March 19, 1976) is an American former professional basketball player and the current head coach for the Grand Rapids Gold. Miller has played professional basketball for the Cleveland Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers, Phil ...

and

Juwan Howard Juwan Antonio Howard (born February 7, 1973) is an American former professional basketball player and current head coach of the Michigan Wolverines men's team. A one-time All-Star and one-time All-NBA power forward, he began his NBA career ...

to free agent contracts. The 2009-10 Blazers suffered a historic level of injuries to key players, yet the team still won 50 games and returned to the playoffs. Pritchard was relieved of his general manager duties on June 24, 2010. About one hour before the

2010 NBA Draft The 2010 NBA draft was held on June 24, 2010, at the Theatre at Madison Square Garden in New York City. The draft, which started at 7:00 pm Eastern Daylight Time (2300 UTC), was broadcast in the United States on ESPN. In this draft, National ...

, Kevin Pritchard was notified by

Paul Allen Paul Gardner Allen (January 21, 1953 – October 15, 2018) was an American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist. He co-founded Microsoft Corporation with childhood friend Bill Gates in 1975, which ...

that he had been fired, but wanted to make it clear that he needed to stay for the draft. Pritchard made a trade and two draft selections, which satisfied Trail Blazer team officials. Many people expected the release of Pritchard to take place, as they felt the firing of Tom Penn, who was the assistant general manager, was a "drive-by" warning for Pritchard. Joe Freeman, of

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 18 ...

newspaper, broke this story early in the four o'clock hour of draft day to "Trail Blazers Courtside", an official Trail Blazer show offering live draft day coverage. It was reported that the Trail Blazers officials told the show's hosts to stop talking about Pritchard immediately. Allen's plan was to announce the firing the next day, but word got to the media and the Blazers were forced to address the situation. In a press conference after, team President Larry Miller fielded all questions. No reasons were given as to why Pritchard was fired. Pritchard authored an open letter to Blazers' fans in which he thanked Paul Allen and the Blazers for the opportunity to help turn around the team.

Indiana Pacers

In July 2011, Pritchard joined the Indiana Pacers to become their director of player personnel. Later on, he was promoted to general manager in June 2012 to replace David Morway. On May 1, 2017, Pritchard took over the role of president of basketball operations, while retaining his general manager duties, when

Larry Bird Larry Joe Bird (born December 7, 1956) is an American former professional basketball player, coach, and executive in the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "the Hick from French Lick" and "Larry Legend", Bird is widely regarded a ...

resigned.

Head coaching record

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Portland Portland most commonly refers to: * Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States * Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...

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References

External links

NBA stats
@ basketballreference.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard, Kevin 1967 births Living people American Basketball Association (2000–present) coaches American expatriate basketball people in Germany American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Spain American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Basketball players from Indiana Bayer Giants Leverkusen players Boston Celtics players Golden State Warriors draft picks Golden State Warriors players Indiana Pacers executives Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball players Liga ACB players Miami Heat players National Basketball Association general managers Philadelphia 76ers players Point guards Portland Trail Blazers executives Portland Trail Blazers head coaches Quad City Thunder players Sportspeople from Bloomington, Indiana Viola Reggio Calabria players Washington Bullets players