The New York Knicks are making an unorthodox move. According to reports from ESPN, the franchise is set to name CAA player agent Leon Rose as the next president of the team. The news comes after the firing of former team president Steve Mills.
Rose, who previously represented LeBron James and Allen Iverson, is a major agent who represents clients like Joel Embiid, Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Karl-Anthony Towns, Carmelo Anthony and Kyle Kuzma.
From the report:
Reporting with @RamonaShelburne: CAA player agent Leon Rose has emerged as a top target to run the New York Knicks basketball operations, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 6, 2020
Shortly before firing team president Steve Mills this week, Knicks owner James Dolan began exploring the front office model of hiring a top basketball executive out of the player agent ranks, sources said. That has gained popularity with the successes of Bob Myers of the Golden State Warriors and Rob Pelinka of the Los Angeles Lakers. Mills, 60, had been the Knicks’ president since July 2017 and previously worked as their executive vice president since 2013. Before being promoted to president, Mills had also served as the team’s general manager since March 18, 2014. He originally joined the Knicks in 1999 as executive vice president of franchise operations.
The Knicks are also believed to be finalizing a deal to bring William “World Wide Wes” Wesley into the organization in a basketball ops role.
Knicks have begun finalizing plans to bring Rose and William Wesley into potential basketball ops. structure, sources say. https://t.co/YxO3xVtDnL
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) February 6, 2020
The Knicks currently sit at 15-36 on the season and are not expected to make a formal announcement on the Rose deal until after the NBA trade deadline. New York has the third-worst mark in the Eastern Conference leading up to the all-star break.
It will be interesting to see how the hiring of Rose plays out and whether he can begin a much-needed turnaround for the franchise.