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Black execs irked by Bulls' VP search, call it 'a slap in the face'

Jesse D. Garrabrant / National Basketball Association / Getty

Chicago Bulls president Michael Reinsdorf has not interviewed a black candidate in the team's ongoing search for a vice president of basketball operations, The Undefeated's Marc J. Spears reported Wednesday.

To date, Toronto Raptors general manager Bobby Webster, whose mother is Japanese American, is the only candidate for the position who isn't white, according to Spears. That fact is not sitting well with black executives around the league.

"It’s clear there is an underlying hypocrisy telling us the NBA is diverse, but when an opportunity comes, the process isn't," an unnamed black assistant GM told Spears. "All we want is a chance. As a black man, all we want is a fair opportunity to show we are just as qualified."

Among those linked to the vice president role are three longtime NBA executives who resigned from previous positions amid scandal. Bryan Colangelo left the Philadelphia 76ers in 2017 after an investigation determined his wife leaked sensitive information about team personnel through multiple anonymous social media accounts. Both Danny Ferry and his successor, Wes Wilcox, both resigned from the Atlanta Hawks after separate racially insensitive remarks.

"That is a slap in the face," a different black assistant general manager told Spears. "Their worst is still being considered over our best. The league is going to have to do something. It does get frustrating."

Unlike the NFL, which instituted the "Rooney Rule," which requires its teams to interview ethnic minority candidates for leadership positions on coaching and front-office staffs, the NBA does not enforce similar affirmative action.

Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas, who was born in Lithuania, is reportedly finalizing a deal to become the Bulls new executive vice president of basketball operations.

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