NBA Rumors: Sachin Gupta leaving Timberwolves for ‘prominent’ role with EPL’s Chelsea | News, scores, highlights, stats & rumors

Sachin Gupta, executive vice president of basketball operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves, is leaving the team for a “prominent position” at Chelsea FC, according to Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic.

Gupta joined the Timberwolves in 2019. Before that, he worked for the Houston Rockets from 2006 to 2013 in the corporate office of Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey.

He then served as vice president of basketball operations for the Philadelphia 76ers (2014-2016), under general manager Sam Hinkie, and then as a special advisor to Morey for one year (2017-2018).

Chelsea have endured a disappointing run in the English Premier League of late, most notably dropping to 12th in the 20-team table in 2022-23 with a record of 11 wins, 11 draws and 16 losses. The club improved to sixth place last season (18-9-11) and are 2-1-1 so far this season. It has ultimately been a difficult period under American chairman Todd Boehly, who took over in June 2022.

The 42-year-old Gupta, who founded the NBA Trade Machine at ESPN in 2006, among other things, is also a graduate of MIT and the Stanford Graduate School of Business.

Last year, he had great success with the Timberwolves, who won 56 games, defeated the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the Western Conference semifinals and reached the conference finals for the first time since 2003-04.

Gupta, however, helped oversee that success and even had success earlier during his tenure in Minnesota, according to Krawczynski and Liam Twomey of The Athletic.

“Gupta came to Minnesota from Detroit to serve as the No. 2 under Gersson Rosas. He ushered in a more robust strategy and analytics department at the Timberwolves and built one of the league’s largest staffs. Rosas was abruptly fired just before training camp in 2021, and Gupta was promoted to lead the front office. He brought stability during a chaotic time and helped lead the Timberwolves to their second playoff appearance in the previous 18 seasons.”

Gupta stayed on board after the Timberwolves hired former Nuggets executive Tim Connelly to lead the team in 2022, but he now takes on a whole new challenge after a nearly two-decade career in the NBA.