Thunder Hires Former Magic GM Rob Hennigan

According to a report by Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, the Oklahoma City Thunder has hired former Magic general manager Rob Hennigan. He will presumably fill the assistant GM vacancy left by Michael Winger, who recently left the organization to become the GM of the Los Angeles Clippers.

The move acts as a homecoming of sorts, as Hennigan spent four years in the Thunder front office prior to taking the job with the Magic. He was hired as the youngest GM in league history, heading to Orlando at just 30 years of age. (He’s now 35)

The Magic went a combined 132-278 in Hennigan’s time at the helm — the worst five year stretch in team history. He is perhaps best remembered for his draft day trade in 2016 that sent Victor Oladipo, Domantas Sabonis and Ersan Ilyasova to the Thunder in exchange for Serge Ibaka — paving the way toward Sam Presti’s mega deal that brought Paul George to Oklahoma City.

While his stretch as Magic GM was ultimately a failure, he returns to a familiar situation in OKC alongside his mentor, Presti. Speaking of his decision to join the Thunder organization, he told the Orlando Sentinel in 2013, “I had so much trust and faith in Sam that I wanted to join him and join the organization to try and build something special.”

More to come.