{"id":734496,"date":"2026-05-14T22:06:21","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:06:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/734496\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T22:06:21","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T22:06:21","slug":"nets-add-new-assistant-gm-lose-top-scout-to-bulls-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/734496\/","title":{"rendered":"Nets add new assistant GM, lose top scout to Bulls"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a series of moves the last few days, the Brooklyn Nets<\/a> gained a new assistant general manager and lost their head scout. The moves are typical of this time of year and don\u2019t seem to be related.<\/p>\n

The Nets promoted Makar Gevorkian<\/a>, their capologist the last several years, to assistant GM joining long-time front office veterans B.J. Johnson<\/a> and Andy Birdsong. Meanwhile, the Chicago Bulls hired Acie Law IV<\/a>, the Nets player personnel director, for a similar position in the Windy City. The job is essentially the organization\u2019s top scout.<\/p>\n

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The changes may not end there. Steve Hetzel, Jordi Fernandez\u2019s No. 2 assistant coach, is seen as a leading candidate for the New Orleans Pelicans<\/a> open head coaching job Hetzel also got recent mention as a possibility for the Trail Blazers<\/a> top spot.<\/p>\n

Gevorkian, who\u2019s close to Sean Marks<\/a>, has held a number of jobs related to the salary cap and has been part of trade discussions over the past several years. Having recently completed his sixth season with the Nets, Gevorkian joined the franchise in 2020 as a basketball operations assistant. He went on to serve one season as a salary cap and strategy associate and two seasons as the director of salary cap before being promoted to his most recent position, vice president of basketball operations alignment & strategic planning, in 2024.<\/p>\n

Gevorkian, 32, is a lawyer. He graduated from the prestigious University of Chicago Law School where was a researcher for Appellate Court Judge Richard Posner, seen as one of the top legal thinkers on the federal bench. Prior to joining Brooklyn, he had worked at one of Silicon Valley\u2019s top law firms, Wilson Sonsini. He also holds a bachelor\u2019s degree from Loyola Marymount in economics and a minor in applied mathematics<\/p>\n

Two years ago, he was named to The Athletic\u2019s NBA 40 under 40. <\/a><\/p>\n

Gevorkian only joined the Nets organization in 2020; he began his professional career with a law degree from the University of Chicago and was an associate at two white-shoe law firms, only to join the Nets as a basketball operations assistant. He has since climbed the ranks in Brooklyn and was promoted this summer by general manager Sean Marks to a higher-ranking position in the front office running the Nets\u2019 cap strategy planning, as the franchise navigates a new forward-looking path.<\/p>\n

Said Sean Marks of the hire: \u201cMakar\u2019s strategic, forward-thinking mind, along with his comprehensive knowledge of the league\u2019s salary cap structure, have made him a valued voice within our front office and we are excited to elevate him to this well-earned role.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Nets press release didn\u2019t detail what parts of the front office would be Gevorkian\u2019s responsibility. Johnson and Birdsong have essentially served as Mr. Outside and Mr. Inside, with Johnson responsible for the team\u2019s outward facing aspects and Birdsong managing team operations.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Law is leaving after a year in the job as director of player personnel, aka top scout. He arrived last season from Oklahoma City<\/a> where he had been director of amateur scouting. Although neither Nets nor the Bulls have made any announcements yet, beat reporters in Chicago<\/a> suggested that Law\u2019s hire shouldn\u2019t be surprising. Bulls newly minted GM Bryson Graham is filling out his front office and Law and he have been good friends going back to their days playing together at Texas A&M.<\/p>\n

The timing however is surprising. It\u2019s expected that Law will be in the Chicago Draft Room on June 23-24 rather than the Nets but no official word.<\/p>\n

Law\u2019s replacement as top scout will be the team\u2019s fourth in four years, following J.R. Holden, Drew Nicholas and Law. One name suggested by league sources is Matt McDonald, currently the general manager of the Long Island Nets who also has some scouting responsibilities and was previously the Nets scouting operations coordinator.<\/p>\n

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Earlier this week, another veteran Brooklyn international scout Richard Midgley was named assistant GM<\/a> of the California Berkeley men\u2019s basketball team. Midgley credited the Nets and Marks with providing valuable experience. He and Marks traveled together to Australia on a scouting tour last year.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy time with the Brooklyn Nets, learning from Sean Marks and the front office group there, was incredibly valuable,\u201d Midgley added. \u201cThe perspective I gained \u2014 especially in roster construction and organizational alignment \u2014 will stay with me as I step into this role at Cal.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a series of moves the last few days, the Brooklyn Nets gained a new assistant general manager…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734497,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3771],"tags":[90973,90984,5683,88629,7,247,920,919,329,3824,3225,2876,20252,90977,6,470,475,730,3596,11785,90983,1617],"class_list":["post-734496","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-chicago-bulls","tag-acie-law-iv","tag-andy-birdsong","tag-assistant-general-manager","tag-b-j-johnson","tag-basketball","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-bulls","tag-chicago","tag-chicago-bulls","tag-chicagobulls","tag-front-office","tag-gm","tag-international-scout","tag-makar-gevorkian","tag-nba","tag-new-orleans-pelicans","tag-oklahoma-city","tag-salary-cap","tag-sean-marks","tag-steve-hetzel","tag-top-law-firms","tag-trail-blazers"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116575206297982826","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734496","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734496"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734496\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734497"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734496"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734496"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734496"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}