Dunleavy Rising?

Former Blue Devil Mike Dunleavy had a long and successful NBA career. Since retiring in 2017, Dunleavy has moved towards the front office. He started as a scout with Golden State in 2018 and was quickly promoted to assistant general manager and then to vice president of basketball operations (what other kind of operations is Golden State running?)

On Tuesday, team president and GM Bob Myers resigned after a brilliant run and recommended Dunleavy as his successor. Aside from the recent successes, that’s a great job with a franchise that is willing to pay the price to succeed.

A lot of people don’t understand just how suited Dunleavy is to the NBA. Of course his father, Mike Dunleavy Sr., played for years and coached for a long time after that, laying the groundwork for Dunleavy’s rise.

When the younger Dunleavy was still a shrimpy teenager, Magic Johnson got to know him and said quite early that he was destined for the NBA.

He has a body of knowledge that was unusual when he was 21 and has only grown more intriguing with time.

As this article points out, if he gets the job, he’ll have to make major decisions soon, including the futures of Draymond Green and Klay Thompson, two of the pillars of the Golden State dynasty, so it won’t be easy.

We’re not keeping an official count, but Duke has produced some impressive NBA executives. Aside from Dunleavy, Danny Ferry, Trajan Langdon and Elton Brand have all had success in league front offices.