Pacers hire NBA’s 1st female assistant GM

(AP):

The Indiana Pacers have hired Kelly Krauskopf as their new assistant general manager, making her the first woman in league history to hold the title.

Krauskopf has a long history with the franchise.

She spent 19 seasons as the top executive of the WNBA's Indiana Fever and helped oversee Indiana's new NBA2K league team. She also served as the WNBA's first director of basketball operations, as an assistant commissioner for the Southwest Conference and on USA Basketball's women's senior national team committee.

"My past experience has shown me that building winning teams and elite level culture is not based on gender it is based on people and processes," Krauskopf said in a statement released by the team. "I am excited to join the Pacers as we continue building the best NBA franchise in the business."

The midseason move comes at a key moment for the Pacers.

They have won seven straight to tie the Milwaukee Bucks for the Central Division lead heading into Monday's games. They are tied with two-time defending champions Golden State for the fourth-best winning percentage in the league, trailing only Toronto, Milwaukee and Denver.

"She is very well respected in all basketball circles and she has great knowledge of our entire operation, so when we looked at this position, it made complete sense to just look in our own building," Pacers president of basketball operations, Kevin Pritchard, said. "We think she will be a great asset to myself, general manager Chad Buchanan and senior vice-president of basketball operations Peter Dinwiddie as we pursue our goal of building a winning team for our state and our city."