Wizards Fire General Manager Tommy Sheppard

The franchise has recorded five straight losing seasons.
Wizards Fire General Manager Tommy Sheppard
Wizards Fire General Manager Tommy Sheppard /
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After five straight losing seasons, the Wizards are making a change at the top.

Washington has fired general manager Tommy Sheppard, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Sheppard, 53, had served in his current role since the 2020 season, when he was promoted to replace longtime president of basketball operations Ernie Grunfeld.

Since qualifying for the Eastern Conference semifinals three times in four years from 2014 to ’17, the Wizards have struggled mightily. Washington has missed the playoffs four times in the past five seasons; in its most recent postseason trip in 2021, it lost in five games to the 76ers.

As noted by Wojnarowski, Sheppard had been employed by the Wizards in some capacity since 2003. Before that, he worked for the Nuggets for a decade in a team services and player relations role.

In his statement dismissing Sheppard, Washington owner Ted Leonsis said, “Failure to make the playoffs the last two seasons was very disappointing to our organization and our fans.”

The Wizards finished 35–47 in 2023, five games behind the Bulls for the Eastern Conference’s final play-in spot.


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Patrick Andres
PATRICK ANDRES

Patrick Andres is a staff writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He joined SI in December 2022, having worked for The Blade, Athlon Sports, Fear the Sword and Diamond Digest. Andres has covered everything from zero-attendance Big Ten basketball to a seven-overtime college football game. He is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism with a double major in history .