Richard Cho (born August 10, 1965) is an American basketball executive who currently serves as the Vice President of Basketball Strategy of 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 ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball sports league, 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 i ...

. Prior to the Grizzlies, Cho was 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

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

, and the assistant general manager of the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...

. Cho was the first Asian American general manager in NBA history.

Education and early career

Born in

Rangoon Yangon ( my, ရန်ကုန်; ; ), formerly spelled as Rangoon, is the capital of the Yangon Region and the largest city of Myanmar (also known as Burma). Yangon served as the capital of Myanmar until 2006, when the military government ...

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

to Alan (Aung Aung Cho) and Shirley Cho (Nwe Nwe Yi), Cho immigrated with his family to the United States in 1968. They were sponsored by a family in

Fort Wayne, Indiana Fort Wayne is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Indiana, United States. Located in northeastern Indiana, the city is west of the Ohio border and south of the Michigan border. The city's population was 263,886 as of the 2020 Censu ...

before moving to Federal Way, Washington. Cho's father worked the night shift at a convenience store to support the family. Cho graduated from Decatur High School and went on to

Washington State University Washington State University (Washington State, WSU, or informally Wazzu) is a public land-grant research university with its flagship, and oldest, campus in Pullman, Washington. Founded in 1890, WSU is also one of the oldest land-grant uni ...

, where he earned a degree in mechanical engineering. He worked as an engineer at

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and ...

from 1990 to 1995.

Basketball executive

In 1995, he was hired as an intern for the

Seattle SuperSonics The Seattle SuperSonics (commonly known as the Seattle Sonics) were an American professional basketball team based in Seattle. The SuperSonics competed in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member club of the league's Western Confe ...

while finishing a J.D. degree from

Pepperdine University School of Law The Pepperdine University Rick J. Caruso School of Law (formerly Pepperdine University School of Law) is the law school of Pepperdine University, a private research university in Los Angeles County, California. The school offers the Juris D ...

. In 1997, he earned the degree and was hired as the SuperSonics' director of basketball affairs. In 2000, he was promoted to assistant general manager. Between 2000 and 2008 the Sonics made the playoffs twice. The high point was the 2004-05 season when the team advanced to the second round of the playoffs for the only time since 1997-98. However it was followed by several more down seasons culminating in a record of 20-62 during the 2007-08 season, the worst in franchise history. In 2008, Cho relocated to Oklahoma City when the league allowed the team under new ownership to leave Seattle. The team was renamed the

. The Thunder utilized Cho's background in both law and mathematics when negotiating trades,

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who i ...

signings, and interpreting the NBA's complex

collective bargaining agreement A collective agreement, collective labour agreement (CLA) or collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is a written contract negotiated through collective bargaining for employees by one or more trade unions with the management of a company (or with an ...

. The Thunder entered the playoffs in 2009-10 with a record of 50-32. In July 2010, Cho returned to the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (sometimes Cascadia, or simply abbreviated as PNW) is a geographic region in western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Thou ...

, hired as the ninth general manager of the

, replacing

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

, who was fired the previous month. Cho himself was fired less than a year after being hired. On June 14, 2011, the

Charlotte Bobcats Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most popu ...

hired Cho as their new general manager, promoting previous GM Rod Higgins to president of basketball operations. The Hornets fired Cho on February 20, 2018. Cho was hired by the Grizzlies on April 17, 2019.

Personal life

Cho and his wife Julie Heintz-Cho have two young daughters. Cho met his wife while studying law at

. Cho's father, Alan, is a former journalist. His paternal grandfather, U Cho, was Burma's first education minister, while his maternal grandfather, Thant Gyi, was a former deputy education minister. Cho is the first cousin of

Alex Wagner Alexandra Swe Wagner (born November 27, 1977) is an American journalist. She is the host of both ''Alex Wagner Tonight ''on MSNBC and Netflix's '' The Mole'' reboot, as well as the author of ''FutureFace: A Family Mystery, an Epic Quest, and th ...

, television anchor and host of ''

Now with Alex Wagner ''Now with Alex Wagner'' (stylized ''NOW'') is a political opinion program on MSNBC presented by progressive host Alex Wagner. The show debuted on November 14, 2011, and aired on weekdays at noon ET. Starting on January 13, 2014, ''Now'' aired a ...

'' on

MSNBC MSNBC (originally the Microsoft National Broadcasting Company) is an American news-based pay television cable channel. It is owned by NBCUniversala subsidiary of Comcast. Headquartered in New York City, it provides news coverage and political ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cho, Rich Living people 1965 births Burmese emigrants to the United States Charlotte Hornets executives National Basketball Association general managers People from Federal Way, Washington Pepperdine University School of Law alumni Portland Trail Blazers executives Washington State University alumni