Wizards Hire Clippers’ Director of Player Personnel Johnny Rogers, Per Woj

Per Adrian Wojnarowski, the Washington Wizards are hiring Johnny Rogers to be their VP of Player Personnel. Rogers had served as the Clippers’ Director of Player Personnel, helping oversee the remaking of the Clippers roster the past few years. After having kept Jerry West, Michael Winger, Trent Redden, and Doc Rivers earlier this summer, this is the Clippers’ first major front office loss.

Rogers didn’t seem to be a part of the Clippers’ inner brain trust, so this maybe isn’t as big a loss as if any of those other guys had left, but it’s still a blow, and a sign that other teams will continue to poach Clippers’ executives. It’s one of the downsides of having a deep, brilliant front office — other teams want those execs too, and can offer them bigger roles (and possibly more money).

The Clippers will need to replace Rogers, which they could do either in-house or through an outside hire. Early buzz has them linked to the former Lakers’ head of player personnel, Ryan West, who left the other LA team just days ago. Ryan, the son of Jerry, was greatly acclaimed for his role in selecting some of the Lakers’ late 1st round draft picks, and is widely respected around the NBA. He would, on the surface, seem to be an A+ hire.

We might not see any movement on this for a while - the Clippers will probably want to take their time with such an important hire - so don’t hold your breath on the Clippers replacing Rogers right away. However, stay tuned, because this Clippers’ front office is certainly capable of anything.