David Griffin
Executive VP of Basketball Operations, New Orleans Pelicans
An NBA Championship is coming to New Orleans — at least that’s the plan. And step one in making that happen, as far as the New Orleans Pelicans are concerned, was the hiring of David Griffin as the team’s new executive vice president of basketball operations.
Before he joined the team this past April, Griffin worked as both the vice president and general manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2010 to 2017. In that time, the franchise took three trips to the NBA finals and won its first championship in 2016.
As excited as the Pelicans are to have someone like Griffin, Griffin says he’s equally thrilled to be in New Orleans.
“People in my position tend to spend a vast majority of their career trying to find their perfect owner,” he says. “Not long after meeting Mrs. Benson, I knew I had found mine…I made a lot of outrageous demands during the process and she not only met them, she was excited to meet them. Her commitment to doing what it takes to compete in the here and now is just incredible.”
Griffin says among his first goals is to continue to make sure the team collects the right talent, something that will be helped by the fact that the Pelicans beat the odds this year to secure the No. 1 draft pick.
“Winning here, when we do win, is going to mean so much more than it would elsewhere,” says Griffin. “And getting to do it with the bandwidth of the Saints behind us is almost like having a cheat code.”
