Richard Cho
Basketball
Served as envoy
- 2012 – Burma
Richard Cho is an American baskebtall executive who is currently the Vice President of Basketball Strategy of the Memphis Grizzlies of the NBA. Prior to which he was the general manager of the Portland Trailblazers, Charlotte Hornets, and assistant manager of the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Cho was the first Asian American general manager in NBA history. I995, he was hired as an intern for the Seattle SuperSonics while finishing his law degree. Two years later, he earned his degree and was hired as the SuperSonics’ director of basketball affairs before being promoted to assistant general manager. During his time as the assistant general manager, the SuperSonics made it to the NBA playoffs twice.
When he left Seattle to manage Oklahoma City Thunder, Thunder utilized Cho’s background in law and mathematics when negotiating trades, free agent signings, and interpreting the NBA’s complex collective bargaining agreement. He returned to the Pacific Northwest in 2010 and remained there until 2019 when he was hired by Memphis.