Milwaukee Bucks reportedly set to hire Jon Horst as new GM
By Ti Windisch
The Milwaukee Bucks general manager search is reportedly about to conclude with Jon Horst being hired from within the Bucks front office.
The Milwaukee Bucks are set to hire their next general manager, according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski, and no, it’s not Justin Zanik. It’s Jon Horst, who had served as director of basketball operations and was not mentioned i, at all, until yesterday.
The details are positively juicy, as per Woj. Here are the tweets he sent out on Friday morning.
Sources: After contentious ownership disagreement over search, Bucks closing in on hiring Dir. of Basketball Operations Jon Horst as GM.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 16, 2017
Sources: Over past couple of days, ownership has been searching for a veteran NBA executive to pair with Horst in the front office. https://t.co/LJMq2SXuM5
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 16, 2017
Assistant GM Justin Zanik had support of owner Marc Lasry, another top minority owner, Jason Kidd but full consensus was needed to hire him. https://t.co/FKPouwDpIy
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 16, 2017
Oh, my. The general manager search took a while because of “contentious” disagreements between ownership. After all this time, Justin Zanik will not be named general manager, even though both he and Horst were around when John Hammond left for the Orlando Magic and it was Zanik who was tapped to run the show during the search.
Also, it seems like the hires are not over yer, as according to Woj Milwaukee would like to stick a veteran executive in some front office position with Horst. That sounds like another person who will end up above Zanik, who must be feeling as though his “GM-in-waiting” status has deteriorated.
As detailed by Adam McGee here at the site yesterday when Horst was announced as a candidate, he’s been in the Bucks front office for nine years, and he worked with John Hammond in Detroit before coming to Milwaukee. He’s never been an NBA general manager before.
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This situation has been positively weird throughout, and it continues to be weird even as it reportedly draws to a close. It’s a bit surprising that the Bucks haven’t tried to interview David Griffin again now that the Cleveland Cavaliers are out of the postseason, although maybe they did and were denied by the Cavaliers again, as Griffin is technically still employed through July.
Other candidates, like the creator of The Process, Sam Hinkie, could’ve been considered as well. Milwaukee seemingly wanted to have a GM in place for the draft, especially after Bucks vice president of scouting Billy McKinney answered a question from Matt Velazquez about not having a GM in place during the draft being a problem like he did:
"‘It potentially could be,’ McKinney said. ‘The big question will be who will make the decisions? We’ve got Rod Thorn here also working with us consulting with the team, working on behalf of the owners until something happens. He’s abreast of everything that we’re thinking and we’re doing and we’ll wait to see what plays out.’”"
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The news of Horst’s hire is not yet official, but since Woj reported it it might as well be. Only time will tell if he was the right choice, but at least Milwaukee now has a general manager in place for the 2017 NBA Draft.