Sixers hiring Ariana Andonian as VP of player personnel originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
Ariana Andonian will join the Sixers as a vice president of player personnel, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported.
Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey retweeted that news.
As Howard Beck detailed in a 2017 Bleacher Report story, Morey first hired Andonian as a Rockets scouting intern in 2015. She’s been working in the Grizzlies’ front office since 2020, most recently as the team’s director of player personnel.
The Athletic’s Mike Vorkunov included Andonian on an NBA “40 under 40” list this summer highlighting successful young coaches, front office members and agents around the league.
“Those who worked with her rave about her attention to detail and scouting acumen,” Vorkunov wrote of Andonian.
In 2018, The Athletic reported Andonian was the only female scout for an NBA team. She coordinated the Rockets’ college scouting operations during her initial stint with Morey and traveled heavily. The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor noted in a 2021 piece about former Sixers wing Matisse Thybulle that Andonian “told Morey he needed to travel to see Thybulle near the start of his junior season.”
Prosper Karangwa will remain a Sixers VP of player personnel, PhillyVoice’s Adam Aaronson reported. He and Andonian will have the same title with “different areas of focus,” according to Aaronson.
Karangwa has worked closely with Morey, Sixers general manager Elton Brand and Delaware Blue Coats GM Jameer Nelson. He’s been a key figure in shaping how the Sixers organization evaluates and develops young players over the last several years.
“Honestly, the reality of it in the NBA is you have one percent of the league that’s superstar players who can dictate the style of play and what you do once they’re in your organization,” Karangwa told NBC Sports Philadelphia in an April phone interview. “And the rest of the roster, the rest of the league is just role players. So it’s really trying to identify what does that player have that’s an outlier, that he does at an elite level? And what does that look like within our environment?
“And once you have him, just making sure they’re aware of that and they play to their strength. You have to be a star in you own role to fit in the NBA, and it all starts with self-awareness — understanding who you are and what’s needed of you, and then just working on it.”