View source for Kevin Pritchard

{{Short description|American basketball executive (born 1967)}}
{{For|the boxer|Kevin Pritchard (boxer)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2019}}
{{Infobox basketball biography
| name            = Kevin Pritchard
| image           = Kevin Pritchard.jpg
| width           = 150px
| caption         = 
| league          = [[National Basketball Association|NBA]]
| team            = Indiana Pacers
| position        = President of basketball operations
| height_ft       = 6
| height_in       = 3
| weight_lb       = 180
| birth_date      = {{birth date and age|1967|7|18}}
| birth_place     = [[Bloomington, Indiana]], U.S.
| high_school     = [[Edison Preparatory School|Edison]] ([[Tulsa, Oklahoma]])
| college         = [[Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball|Kansas]] (1986–1990)
| draft_year      = 1990
| draft_round     = 2
| draft_pick      = 34
| draft_team      = [[Golden State Warriors]]
| career_start    = 1990
| career_end      = 1998
| career_position = [[Point guard]]
| career_number   = 2, 12, 11, 14
| years1          = {{nbay|1990|full=y}}
| team1           = [[Golden State Warriors]]
| years2          = {{nbay|1991|full=y}}
| team2           = [[Boston Celtics]]
| years3          = 1992–1993
| team3           = [[Cáceres CB]]
| years4          = 1993–1994
| team4           = [[Viola Reggio Calabria|Pfizer Reggio Calabria]]
| years5          = 1994–1995
| team5           = [[Quad City Thunder]]
| years6          = {{nbay|1994|end}}
| team6           = [[Philadelphia 76ers]]
| years7          = {{nbay|1994|end}}
| team7           = [[Miami Heat]]
| years8          = 1995–1996
| team8           = Quad City Thunder
| years9          = {{nbay|1995|end}}
| team9           = [[Washington Bullets]]
| years10         = 1996–1997
| team10          = [[Bayer Giants Leverkusen|Bayer Leverkusen]]
| cyears1         = 2000–2002
| cteam1          = [[Kansas City Knights]]
| cyears2         = {{nbay|2004|end}}
| cteam2          = [[Portland Trail Blazers]] (interim)
| highlights   =
* All-[[Continental Basketball Association|CBA]] First Team (1995)
*[[List of NCAA Men's Division I Basketball champions|NCAA champion]] ([[1988 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament|1988]])
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport | Men's [[basketball]]}}
{{MedalCountry|{{USA}}}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[FIBA Under-19 World Championship|FIBA U19 World Championship]]}}
{{MedalSilver| [[1987 FIBA Under-19 World Championship|1987 Bormio]] | [[United States national basketball team|Team competition]]}}
}}
'''Kevin Lee Pritchard''' (born July 18, 1967<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.adidaseurocamp.com/page.php?pid=kevin-pritchard |title=Adidas EUROCAMP - Treviso - June 11-13, 2011 |access-date=July 18, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111235441/http://www.adidaseurocamp.com/page.php?pid=kevin-pritchard |archive-date=January 11, 2012 }}</ref>) is an American [[basketball]] executive, and a former player and coach, who is currently the president of basketball operations for the [[Indiana Pacers]].<ref>{{cite web |url=https://eu.indystar.com/story/sports/2017/06/29/chad-buchanan-new-pacers-gm/440538001/|title=Chad Buchanan to be new Pacers GM|access-date=June 11, 2018}}</ref> Pritchard played 4 seasons in the [[National Basketball Association|NBA]] as a player, and was also the general manager of the [[Portland Trail Blazers]], and the Indiana Pacers.

==College career==
Pritchard played college basketball for the [[University of Kansas]], where, as a [[sophomore]], he was the starting [[point guard]] on the [[1987–88 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team|Jayhawks team]] that defeated the [[1987–88 Oklahoma Sooners men's basketball team|Oklahoma Sooners]] for the [[1988 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament]] championship.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbssports.com/collegebasketball/ncaa-tournament/history/yearbyyear/1988|title = NCAA Tournament History}}</ref>

==Professional career==
Pritchard was drafted by the [[Golden State Warriors]] of the [[National Basketball Association]] as the 34th overall pick in 1990. He had a six-year NBA career spanning five teams: the Warriors, the [[Boston Celtics]], the [[Philadelphia 76ers]], the [[Miami Heat]], and the [[Washington Bullets]]. He was first player signed to the [[Memphis Grizzlies|Vancouver Grizzlies]] in 1995, although he was released before getting an opportunity to play a game for them.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.thesportster.com/basketball/the-inaugural-1995-96-vancouver-grizzlies-roster-where-are-they-now/|title=The Inaugural 1995-96 Vancouver Grizzlies Roster: Where Are They Now?|date=September 23, 2016}}</ref> 

Pritchard played for the [[Quad City Thunder]] of the [[Continental Basketball Association]] (CBA) from 1994 to 1996.<ref name=sc>{{cite web |title=Kevin Pritchard minor league basketball statistics |url=https://www.statscrew.com/minorbasketball/stats/p-pritckev001 |website=Stats Crew |access-date=February 27, 2025}}</ref> He was selected to the All-CBA First Team in 1995.<ref name=sc/>

Pritchard's playing career also included a stint with Caceres C.B. in Spain, [[Viola Reggio Calabria|Pfizer Reggio Calabria]] in Italy in 1993–1994, and [[Bayer Giants Leverkusen|Bayer Leverkusen]] in Germany 1996–1997. He retired from playing in 1998.

==Executive career==

===Early coaching and management career===
After a year working outside of basketball, Pritchard became the coach and general manager of the [[Kansas City Knights]] of the [[American Basketball Association (2000-)|ABA]], which he led to a championship in 2002. Later, he was hired by [[San Antonio Spurs]] general manager R. C. Buford to be a scout in the Spurs' organization, and two years later was hired by the [[Portland Trail Blazers]] as director of player personnel.

In 2005, when the Trail Blazers fired head coach [[Maurice Cheeks]], they named Pritchard as his interim replacement.

===Portland Trail Blazers===
In the 2006 off-season, the team fired [[John Nash (basketball)|John Nash]], giving [[Steve Patterson (sports executive)|Steve Patterson]] the dual role of general manager and president, while Pritchard was promoted to assistant general manager. In 2007, Patterson resigned, and on March 29, Pritchard was named as the team's general manager.

In December 2008, the Blazers attempted to block other NBA teams from signing [[Darius Miles]] solely for the purpose of negatively impacting the Blazers' salary cap situation.  Miles ended up signing with the [[Memphis Grizzlies]].<ref name="miles">{{cite web|url=https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=aw-milespritchard011709&prov=yhoo&type=lgns|title=Miles separated Blazers GM from greatness}}</ref>

In the summer of 2009, the Blazers added to their core of young talent by signing veterans [[Andre Miller]] and [[Juwan Howard]] to free agent contracts.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.espn.com/nba/news/story?id=4354227|title=Free-agent guard Miller signs with Trail Blazers|date=July 24, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nba.com/2009/news/09/17/blazers.howard.ap/index.html |title=NBA.com: Trail Blazers sign Juwan Howard to one-year deal |website=[[NBA.com]] |access-date=September 17, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090922170541/http://www.nba.com/2009/news/09/17/blazers.howard.ap/index.html |archive-date=September 22, 2009 }}</ref> The 2009-10 Blazers suffered a historic level of injuries to key players, yet the team still won 50 games and returned to the playoffs.

Pritchard was relieved of his general manager duties on June 24, 2010. About one hour before the [[2010 NBA draft]], Kevin Pritchard was notified by [[Paul Allen]] that he had been fired, but wanted to make it clear that he needed to stay for the draft.  Pritchard made a trade and two draft selections, which satisfied Trail Blazer team officials.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/06/live_video_the_blazers_discuss.html | work=The Oregonian | title=Video: Blazers officials discuss their 2010 NBA draft and Kevin Pritchard's dismissal | date=June 24, 2010}}</ref>

Many people expected the release of Pritchard to take place, as they felt the firing of Tom Penn, who was the assistant general manager, was a "drive-by" warning for Pritchard.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/03/tom_penn_fired_by_trail_blazer.html | work=The Oregonian | title=Tom Penn 'surprised' and 'disappointed' he is fired by Trail Blazers | date=March 16, 2010}}</ref> Joe Freeman, of [[The Oregonian]] newspaper, broke this story early in the four o'clock hour of draft day to "Trail Blazers Courtside",<ref>{{cite news| url=http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/06/kevin_pritchard_fired_as_trail.html | work=The Oregonian | title=Kevin Pritchard fired as Trail Blazers general manager | date=June 24, 2010}}</ref> an official Trail Blazer show offering live draft day coverage. It was reported that the Trail Blazers officials told the show's hosts to stop talking about Pritchard immediately.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://www.oregonlive.com/sports/oregonian/john_canzano/index.ssf/2010/06/canzano_firing_kevin_pritchard.html | work=The Oregonian | title=Canzano: Firing Kevin Pritchard proves Trail Blazers are their own worst enemy | date=June 24, 2010}}</ref> Allen's plan was to announce the firing the next day, but word got to the media and the Blazers were forced to address the situation.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.blazersedge.com/2010/6/24/1535343/quick-kevin-pritchard-fired|title=Breaking News: Jason Quick Reports Kevin Pritchard Fired|date=June 24, 2010}}</ref>

In a press conference after, team President [[Larry Miller (sports executive)|Larry Miller]] fielded all questions. No reasons were given as to why Pritchard was fired. Pritchard authored an open letter to Blazers' fans in which he thanked Paul Allen and the Blazers for the opportunity to help turn around the team.<ref>{{cite news| url=http://blog.oregonlive.com/behindblazersbeat/2010/06/kevin_pritchards_open_letter_t.html | work=The Oregonian | title=Kevin Pritchard's open letter to Trail Blazers fans | date=June 26, 2010}}</ref>

===Indiana Pacers===
In July 2011, Pritchard joined the [[Indiana Pacers]] to become their director of player personnel.<ref>[http://www.nba.com/pacers/pacers_hired_kevin_pritchard_2011_07_08.html Pacers hire Kevin Pritchard]</ref> Later on, he was promoted to general manager in June 2012 to replace [[David Morway]]. On May 1, 2017, Pritchard took over the role of president of basketball operations, while retaining his general manager duties, when [[Larry Bird]] resigned.<ref>{{cite web|title=Bird Steps Down; Pritchard Named President of Basketball Operations|url=http://www.nba.com/pacers/news/bird-steps-down-pritchard-named-president-basketball-operations|website=NBA.com|access-date=May 2, 2017|date=May 1, 2017}}</ref>

==Head coaching record==
{{NBA coach statistics legend}}
{{NBA coach statistics start}}
|- 
| style="text-align:left;"|[[2004–05 Portland Trail Blazers season|Portland]]
| style="text-align:left;"|{{nbay|2004}}
|27||5||22||{{Winning percentage|5|22}}|| style="text-align:center;"|4th in Northwest||—||—||—||—
| style="text-align:center;"|Missed Playoffs
|- class="sortbottom"
| style="text-align:left;"|'''Career'''
| ||27||5||22||{{Winning percentage|5|22}}|| ||—||—||—||—
{{s-end}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20071027050829/http://www.basketballreference.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=PRITCKE01 NBA stats] @ basketballreference.com

{{NBAgeneralmanagers}}
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}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pritchard, Kevin}}
[[Category:1967 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:American Basketball Association (2000–present) coaches]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Germany]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Italy]]
[[Category:American expatriate basketball people in Spain]]
[[Category:American men's basketball coaches]]
[[Category:American men's basketball players]]
[[Category:Basketball players from Indiana]]
[[Category:Bayer Giants Leverkusen players]]
[[Category:Boston Celtics players]]
[[Category:Golden State Warriors draft picks]]
[[Category:Golden State Warriors players]]
[[Category:Indiana Pacers executives]]
[[Category:Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball players]]
[[Category:Liga ACB players]]
[[Category:Miami Heat players]]
[[Category:NBA general managers]]
[[Category:Philadelphia 76ers players]]
[[Category:Point guards]]
[[Category:Portland Trail Blazers executives]]
[[Category:Portland Trail Blazers head coaches]]
[[Category:Quad City Thunder players]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Bloomington, Indiana]]
[[Category:Viola Reggio Calabria players]]
[[Category:Washington Bullets players]]
[[Category:Edison Preparatory School alumni]]
[[Category:20th-century American sportsmen]]