Ernie Grunfeld

Ernie Grunfeld

Kansas City Kings
1982–1986	New York Knicks
Career highlights and awards
Consensus second-team All-American (1977) Third-team All-American – NABC, UPI (1976) SEC Player of the Year – AP (1977) No. 22 retired by Tennessee Volunteers Third-team Parade All-American (1973)
Career NBA statistics
Points	5,124 (7.4 ppg)
Rebounds	1,815 (2.6 rpg)
Assists	1,419 (2.0 apg)
Stats at NBA.com  Basketball Reference
Medals Men's basketball Representing  United States Olympic Games 1976 Montreal Team competition Pan American Games 1975 Mexico City Team competition Maccabiah Games 1973 Ramat Gan Men's basketball 1977 Israel Men's basketball

Ernest Grunfeld (born April 24, 1955) is a Romanian-American former professional basketball player and former general manager in the National Basketball Association (NBA). In college at the University of Tennessee, he set a new record as the school's all-time leading scorer. He won gold medals with Team USA at the 1975 Pan American Games and the 1976 Summer Olympics. He began his professional career as a player with the Milwaukee Bucks. He served as General Manager of the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association from 1989 to 1999, and as the Bucks General Manager from 1999 to 2003, and then became the president of basketball operations for the Washington Wizards from 2003 to 2019.

Born in

At 18 years of age, he played for Team USA in the 1973 Maccabiah Games in Israel, was the only high school student on the American team's starting five, and led the team in scoring with a 20-point average as the US took the silver medal.^[5][6]

He attended the

The Knicks signed him as a free agent in 1982, and he played there for four years, where he reunited with Bernard King. He retired following the 1985–86 season. Grunfeld averaged 7.4 points per game in his NBA career.[8] In 1982 he averaged 12.7 points a game, and 21.8 per 40 minutes. In 1986 he was third in the NBA in 3-point field goal percentage, with .426. He finished his career with a .477 field goal percentage and a .770 free throw percentage. His playoff shooting percentages were even better.

Grunfeld was selected to participate as a member of the American basketball team at the 1973 Maccabiah Games, while he was still attending high school. The US team was defeated by Israel in the final game.^[6]

Grunfeld played on the team that won a gold medal at the 1975 Pan American Games. He also participated in the basketball event at the 1976 Summer Olympics, again winning the gold medal. He became an U.S. citizen that year.^[6]

After he retired from the NBA, Grunfeld was the Knicks radio analyst for the

Grunfeld was appointed director of administration in the 1990–91 season and was moved to vice-president of player personnel on April 23, 1991. He was then appointed vice president and general manager on July 21, 1993. He became president and general manager on February 23, 1996.[8] During his time with the Knicks, Grunfeld and his family were residents of Franklin Lakes, New Jersey.^[9]

During his eight-year tenure as a Knicks executive, the team had a record of 397 wins and 227 losses (.636) and a 61–44 playoff record. They won the Atlantic Division three times and reached the NBA Finals twice.^[8]

At the time of his removal from the general manager post during the

However, he took the job as the Milwaukee Bucks' general manager on August 13, 1999. He held the position for four seasons during which the Bucks made the playoffs three times and enjoyed 14 playoff wins. The team won 177 regular season games and lost 151 (.540 average).[8]

He was hired by the Washington Wizards as president of basketball operations in June 2003.^[8] During his tenure, the Wizards have held a record of 536–678 (44% win rate from 2003/2004 to 2017–2018),^[10] which includes six seasons with fewer than 30 wins alongside eight Eastern Conference playoff appearances. Candace Buckner of The Washington Post noted that "Grunfeld ranks as the second-longest tenured general manager in franchise history, trailing only Bob Ferry (1973–1990), who guided the Washington Bullets to the 1978 NBA championship."^[11]

As the Wizards' general manager, Grunfeld signed free agent point guard Gilbert Arenas, who went on to have one second team All-NBA and two third team All-NBA seasons. In 2004, Grunfeld traded the number five pick in the 2004 NBA draft along with Jerry Stackhouse for All-Star Antawn Jamison. Grunfeld also traded Kwame Brown for All-Star Caron Butler (who later got traded in a deal for Josh Howard).

In the 2007 and 2008 NBA draft classes, Grunfeld selected Nick Young and JaVale McGee respectively. While young and athletic, the two players soured in Washington and were dealt in 2012.

In the 2009 NBA draft, Grunfeld traded the team's first-round pick (5th overall) for Mike Miller and Randy Foye, both of whom only spent one season in Washington.

In the 2010 NBA draft, Grunfield selected the consensus number-one overall pick John Wall.

Grunfeld drafted Jan Veselý and Chris Singleton in the first round of the 2011 NBA draft. In addition, Shelvin Mack was selected in the second round. All three players were off the team three seasons later. Vesely and Singleton are currently not in the NBA.

In the 2012 NBA draft, Grunfeld drafted Bradley Beal at number three overall and drafted Tomáš Satoranský in the second round.

In the

The Wizards traded their first-round pick in the 2014 NBA draft along with Emeka Okafor for Marcin Gortat in a trade with the Phoenix Suns in October 2013. Grunfeld sold the Wizards 2014 2nd-round pick for $2 million to the Lakers, who then drafted Jordan Clarkson.

In July 2014, he signed former NBA Finals MVP Paul Pierce to replace Trevor Ariza, Kris Humphries in a sign and trade with the Boston Celtics (trading a 2015 2nd round pick), and DeJuan Blair in free agency.

On December 15, 2018, he was involved in a trading controversy surrounding MarShon Brooks and Dillon Brooks. Later on that same day, he traded Austin Rivers and Kelly Oubre Jr. to the Phoenix Suns for the return of Trevor Ariza.

On April 2, 2019, he was fired by the Washington Wizards.^[12]

In 1987, he was inducted into the Tennessee Sports Hall of Fame.^[13]

In 1993, Grunfeld was inducted into the

In 2008, Grunfeld's number 22 that he wore while at Tennessee was retired, making him the second Tennessee Volunteer in Men's Basketball to be retired along with his teammate Bernard King.

He was also inducted into the

• List of select Jewish basketball players

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ernie Grunfeld.

• Basketball Reference stats