The Washington Wizards continue to make historical moves within the franchise. One month after replacing their team jerseys for statement t-shirts in their team photo to promote social justice, the team hired the first woman to head the research and analytics department of an NBA franchise.
Monumental Basketball announced the hiring of Dr. Katherine Evans as the Vice President on Research and Information Systems. She will be overseeing the research department, supporting the Wizards, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, the G League’s Capital City Go-Go and Wizards District Gaming.
Evans arrives in Washington after working with the Toronto Raptors as Director of Strategic Research. She helped with analytical research for the front office, coaching staff and medical department. That research varied from data strategies to draft prospect scouting, player evaluation and game-planning.
The Wizards has been actively restructuring the analytics department since Tommy Sheppard took over as general manager in 2019. The Wizards have since made a series of analytics driven hires to their front office starting with Sashi Brown, Monumental Basketball’s chief planning and operations officer to head the Wizards’ analytics and research department.
Brown discussed what Dr. Evans brings to the department, via the Wizards team page.
“Dr. Evans is an exceptional talent with a true passion for the game of basketball and is widely respected within the league and academic circles,” said Sashi Brown, Monumental Basketball’s chief planning and operations officer. “She brings innovative approaches and perspectives and will be a great leader of our research department, which is charged with identifying competitive advantages for all of our athletes and our athlete care and performance team.”
The ongoing plans are to expand international scouting, player development and wellness. Now they plan to make those moves with Evans, who has a doctorate in biostatistics from Harvard.
