ESPN was first to report that the Chicago Bulls have six candidates lined up for their newly opened front office position, but one name stands out, and it’s someone who was already inside the circle.
Dave Telep, currently the Assistant GM of the San Antonio Spurs, is being considered alongside Matt Lloyd, Dennis Lindsey, Bryson Graham, Mike Gansey, and Austin Brown.
But who is Telep? And why does he stand out?
The Chicago Bulls have started the search process for their new head of basketball operations, receiving permission to interview Minnesota's Matt Lloyd, Detroit's Dennis Lindsey, Atlanta's Bryson Graham, Cleveland's Mike Gansey and San Antonio's Dave Telep, per ESPN sources. The…
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 20, 2026 © Kirby Lee-Imagn ImagesDave Telep: The Hits and Misses
Dave Telep joined San Antonio in 2013, but his résumé goes way beyond the front office. Before that, he was a senior national recruiting analyst for ESPN.com, a sideline reporter for ESPNU, and a studio analyst for Recruiting Nation. He also spent time with the USA Basketball Developmental National Committee.
Back in 2001, he launched ‘Dave Telep Scouting Services’, which ended up being used by over 230 Division I programs. He’s spent nearly three decades building a reputation for spotting talent early.
With the Spurs, he climbed the ladder: Scouting Coordinator, to Director of Scouting, to Director of Player Personnel, to VP of Basketball Operations, and, as of 2025, Assistant GM.
Spurs promoted Hao Meng, Niraj Mulji & Dave Telep to assistant general managers. Adam Glessner (player personnel), Samson Kayode (scouting), Josh Fink (data science), Nick Repole (research & design) & Phil Cullen (basketball organization development) each promoted to associate VP pic.twitter.com/CD0Xp12aPF
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) September 28, 2025 © Jeffrey Swinger-Imagn ImagesHits
Telep hasn’t run a team yet, so it’s hard to directly credit him for full organizational decisions, but his fingerprint is all over San Antonio’s scouting success.
Think about names like Dejounte Murray (29th pick), Derrick White (29th pick), Keldon Johnson (29th pick), Tre Jones (41st pick), and Leonard Miller (33rd pick, later traded). That’s an ability to find real value found late in the draft.
No, Dave Telep doesn’t get credit for Victor Wembanyama, but prospects like Stephon Castle and Carter Bryant do reflect the kind of scouting strength he brings.
Even during his ESPN days, he was early on guys like Chris Paul, Rajon Rondo, and Shaun Livingston.
If you’re a team trying to rebuild through the draft, that kind of eye is valuable. Add in relationships with executives like Sam Presti and Brian Wright, and there’s even more upside behind the scenes.
© Cary Edmondson-Imagn ImagesMisses
At the same time, let’s be real, the San Antonio Spurs are one of the best-run organizations in sports, but Telep hasn’t been the one steering the ship.
He’s still relatively new to the Assistant GM role, so jumping straight into a president of basketball operations job, especially for a team not operating like San Antonio, might be a big leap.
And like any evaluator, he’s had misses. In his own 2011 piece titled “Hits and Misses,” he admitted being wrong on players like Stephen Curry, Chris Bosh, and Deron Williams, while being higher than most on Adam Morrison.
To be fair, those weren’t decisions that hurt any franchise directly, but it does raise the question: how much do those evaluations matter when projecting future leadership?
None of this is a knock on Dave Telep’s work. It’s just the reality of the decision in front of Chicago, balancing the potential upside, experience, and risk.
@ David Banks-Imagn ImagesWhat Could the Chicago Bulls Expect from Dave Telep?
Well, the first thing the Chicago Bulls can expect is excellence in Dave Telep’s area of expertise: scouting.
Chicago is sitting on four, picks in the 2026 NBA Draft, a top-10 pick, No. 15, plus two more in the second round. Even if the class isn’t as stacked as once advertised, this is still a draft they have to get right.
As an executive with a scouting background, Telep should be able to identify exactly what he wants, while also understanding how those pieces fit with the current roster. This is quite literally what he’s spent his entire career building toward, and for a team like Chicago, hitting on these picks could change everything.
But here’s the other side of it.
What he doesn’t have, compared to some of the other candidates, is experience outside of one system. His entire NBA front office career has been with the San Antonio Spurs, an organization known for stability, continuity, and a winning culture built around Hall of Fame-level talent.
Not every team operates like that.
Some organizations can afford to miss here and there. Chicago really can’t. And if Telep is looking for that same level of structure and stability, he won’t be walking into it, he’ll have to build it himself.
That’s the part where this job gets difficult and it’s also where previous executives in Chicago have come up short.
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