Former Nets director of player personnel J.R. Holden has accepted a front office role with the Detroit Pistons, according to Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer and Vincent Goodwill.
In Detroit, Holden will join former Nets assistant general manager Trajan Langdon, who was hired as the team’s new President of Basketball Operations in May. Holden and Langdon won two Euroleague championships together while playing for CSKA Moskow.
Holden had been with Brooklyn since the summer of 2019. He also served as general manager of the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s G League affiliate.
Holden’s departure continues what has been a front office exodus for the Nets in recent months. Former assistant general manager Jeff Peterson joined the Charlotte Hornets as the franchise’s next head of basketball operation in February.
Ryan Gisriel, Brooklyn’s former executive director of basketball operations who had been with the team for over a decade, followed Peterson to Charlotte in March. And the Phoenix Suns hired Matt Tellem, Brooklyn’s former vice president of strategy, in May.
While head coach Jordi Fernandez has already finalized his first coaching staff in Brooklyn, general manager Sean Marks will have plenty of work to do throughout the summer to fill key front office vacancies.
Brooklyn could promote internally or interview candidates from outside the organization to replace Holden, Peterson, Gisriel and Tellem, according to Marks.
“I think it’s always important to have a best-available list,” Marks said when asked about the departures of Peterson and Gisriel and Fernandez’s introductory news conference in April. “Whether you’re looking at players or whether you’re looking at staff. So, we look at maybe who’s out there and who we could potentially bring in, but also our own staff here.”
