Mitchell Kupchak was born on May 24,1954 and is an American professional basketball executive and retired player.
20 Facts About Mitch Kupchak
2.
Mitch Kupchak is the current president of basketball operations and general manager of the Charlotte Hornets of the National Basketball Association.
3.
Mitch Kupchak was an All-American on the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team, and was named Atlantic Coast Conference Player of the Year in his senior season.
4.
Mitch Kupchak played on the gold medal-winning team at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal.
5.
Mitch Kupchak was drafted by the Washington Bullets in 1976 and was named to the NBA All-Rookie Team.
6.
Mitch Kupchak had four productive seasons with Washington and was part of the team that won the NBA championship in 1978.
7.
Mitch Kupchak signed a long term contract with the Lakers in 1981 at the behest of Earvin "Magic" Johnson, who told owner Jerry Buss, "If we could get Mitch Kupchak, I know we could win", after the team's playoff upset.
8.
Mitch Kupchak played a key role in the Showtime Lakers' 1985 championship team against the Boston Celtics, who had intimidated them in the prior year's Finals.
9.
Mitch Kupchak planned for his "life after" being an NBA player and pursued a focused program to learn the trade of running NBA team operations.
10.
Mitch Kupchak retired from playing in 1986, and became the Lakers' assistant general manager.
11.
Mitch Kupchak later succeeded West as General Manager, but was not considered to have all of the traditional powers of an NBA GM until 2000.
12.
In 2007, Mitch Kupchak traded Brian Cook and Maurice Evans for Trevor Ariza, and the Lakers started the season off with the best record in the West.
13.
In 2009, Mitch Kupchak signed 2004 Defensive Player of the Year Ron Artest, famous for his role in the Pacers-Pistons Brawl, as a free agent.
14.
On July 4,2012, after two consecutive playoff exits in the Western Conference semi-final round, Mitch Kupchak used a traded player exception on two-time, former NBA Most Valuable Player, Steve Nash.
15.
That same summer, Mitch Kupchak dealt Andrew Bynum, who had just been voted to his first All-Star team, in a four-way trade for his Eastern Conference counterpart, three-time Defensive Player of the Year Dwight Howard.
16.
On February 21,2017, Mitch Kupchak was fired as general manager of the Lakers.
17.
On June 21,2018, Mitch Kupchak made his first draft selection as the general manager of the Charlotte Hornets.
18.
Mitch Kupchak selected Shai Gilgeous-Alexander with the 11th pick, who was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers for Miles Bridges, who was selected with the 12th pick.
19.
Mitch Kupchak was inducted into the Suffolk Sports Hall of Fame on Long Island in the Basketball Category with the Class of 1990.
20.
Mitch Kupchak is married to Claire, with whom he had two children.