The San Antonio Spurs basketball operations staff made moves today, hiring Samson Kayode as Director of Player Evaluation/Austin Spurs Assistant GM, Hao Meng as Director of Strategic Analysis and Basketball Insight, and Danny Ferry as Basketball Operations Consultant.
In addition, Brendan Bowman has been promoted to Assistant Athletic Trainer, while Brandon Leibsohn has been elevated to Manager of Basketball Strategy.
Kayode spent the last four years as Assistant Director for the USA Basketball Men’s National Team, where he assisted in all facets but primarily focused on developing the Men’s Junior National Team program. Prior to joining USA Basketball, he spent two seasons from 2014-16 as the Video Coordinator for the Detroit Pistons after serving as a video intern for the Golden State Warriors from 2012-14. Kayode was the men’s basketball video coordinator at New Mexico State from 2010-12 while earning his master’s degree after getting his bachelor’s from Morgan State.
Meng joins the Spurs after spending the last seven-plus years at the NBA league office, most recently as Associate Vice President of Basketball Strategy and Analytics. He started with the NBA as a Manager of Team Finance in 2013 before being named Associate Director of Basketball Strategy in 2016. Prior to joining the league office, Meng worked as an investment banking financial analyst at Goldman Sachs for two years after graduating from Harvard in 2011.
Ferry most recently served as the Interim General Manager of the New Orleans Pelicans in 2019 after first being named a special advisor for New Orleans in 2016. The Duke alum served as General Manager of the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2005-10 and President of Basketball Operations for the Atlanta Hawks from 2012-15. Ferry previously worked in San Antonio’s front office from 2010-12 and 2003-05 after he played his last three seasons in the NBA with the Spurs, culminating in an NBA Championship with the Silver and Black in 2003.
Bowman has been with San Antonio for the last three seasons, most recently serving as Medical Systems Assistant. He spent his first two seasons with the Spurs as a medical quality assurance assistant after spending a season as the Athletic Trainer for the Erie Bayhawks, the NBA G League affiliate of the Orlando Magic, in 2016-17. Bowman earned a master’s degree from Minot State in 2016 after graduating from Washington State in 2014.
Leibsohn stays with the Spurs after spending last season as a basketball operations quality assurance assistant. Prior to joining San Antonio, he worked as an associate at Hallier Lawrence law firm from 2015-19. Leibsohn interned in the legal department for the Milwaukee Bucks in 2012 while attending Marquette Law School, where he graduated in 2013 after earning a bachelor’s from Hamilton College (New York) in 2010.
