Omari Sankofa IIDetroit Free Press
Nearly 20 years later, Trajan Langdon’s “Alaskan Assassin” nickname remained relevant.
The former Duke standout was an assistant general manager with the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-19. Their head coach was Kenny Atkinson, who had a lengthy overseas career himself and knew of Langdon from his time starring with CSKA Moscow.
Langdon had retired from basketball years prior, but still lived in the gym.
“I’ll never forget doing a shooting workout with him one time,” Atkinson, now an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors, told the Free Press on Thursday. “I wasn’t in the kind of shape he was. We were both shooting around the gym, he said ‘Yeah, let’s do a shooting workout,’ and he put me through the workout of my life. I almost collapsed at the end. It was an individual workout. I was like, ‘This guy is retired and he’s got this specific routine and perfect technique and all these drills he did.’ I was like ‘Man, this guy’s locked in.’”
Langdon, raised in Anchorage, Alaska, earned his nickname by leading Duke in all-time made 3-pointers by the time he departed in 1999 (he’s still second on the list today, behind JJ Redick). A 6-foot-4 shooting guard, he was drafted 11th overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he played for three seasons as the NBA’s first Alaskan. He then had an all-time career in Europe, leading CSKA Moscow to two EuroLeague championships before retiring in 2011.
His playing career propelled him back to the NBA, initially as a scout with the San Antonio Spurs before joining the Cavaliers and Nets front offices. The New Orleans Pelicans hired him as general manager in 2019. Now, he’s leading his own franchise.
The Detroit Pistons on Friday announced the hiring of Langdon as their president of basketball operations, acquiring one of the most notable rising executives in the league.
Success has followed Langdon at every stop — the Pelicans and Nets were both at the beginning stages of a rebuild when he arrived, and in winning position following his departure, thanks to strong drafting and team evaluations.
His experience, both domestic and abroad, has helped him develop a keen eye for talent and an across-the-board relatability, those who have worked with him say. He’s now being tabbed to lead a Pistons team in need of a new direction.
He’s bringing his shooter’s mindset with him.
“I think on and off the floor, the biggest thing that sticks out with Trajan is just his poise and composure,” Golden State Warriors GM and former 15-year NBA veteran Mike Dunleavy Jr., a Duke alumnus and longtime friend of Langdon, told the Free Press on Wednesday. “Whether it’s a high-level moment at Duke or in the NBA or whatever it is, I think you trust him. And the same thing as it is in this business — the pressure, the high-level decisions that need to go on. This is not a guy that’s going to get overwhelmed or sped up or anxious about something, or at least show it.”
Fresh off a franchise-worst 14-68 season, the Pistons need that confidence. They believe they have a franchise player in Cade Cunningham, own the fifth pick in the NBA draft June 26 and hold around $64 million in cap space to remake the roster. The hope, and expectation, is that success will follow Langdon here as well.
“You don’t get to have the career he had on the basketball court without being very competitive and diligent, and that’s something in this organization and this business — you have to be competitive," Nets GM Sean Marks, who worked with Langdon in San Antonio before poaching him from the Cavaliers to be his assistant GM in 2016, told the Free Press on Thursday, "whether you want to be a star in your analytics or your star at your scouting department or a star at player development.
“You want to be the best there is and it should irk you when somebody else out there is showing promise or beats you to the punch. That competitive fire is instilled in Trajan and definitely separates him from the lot.”
More: Trajan Langdon is in. Troy Weaver is out. Now the real work begins.
Finding unwanted gems
The cupboard was bare when Marks took over the Nets in 2016. They were 14-40 overall when he was hired that February, and the organization didn’t have a first-round pick available to trade through 2019 due to the Stepien Rule, or any promising young talents, after swinging big trades for Joe Johnson, Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett.
Marks was previously an assistant GM with the Spurs, where he got to know Langdon, who was a scout at the time. Langdon was director of player personnel for the Cavaliers when Marks called him and offered him an assistant GM job in Brooklyn. He needed someone who could help the Nets overcome their lack of draft capital through smart signings, and Langdon had the qualifications.
Langdon’s role in Brooklyn expanded as Marks’ trust in him grew. He was named GM of their G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, and was named G League basketball executive of the year in 2018-19.
“He’s been able to evaluate talent at a variety of different levels,” Marks said. "He ran everything to the G League for us here to amateur scouting for us. Personally, him as a talent evaluator is incredibly high, one of the best I’ve ever been around. He has great conviction when delivering messages to players, to staff, to ownership, whatever it may be. And there’s very few people that can hold a room, hold an audience and a conversation in all three levels, and I think that’s something that Trajan’s able to do and do very, very well.”
It was Langdon who advocated for Joe Harris, who hadn’t been on an NBA roster in months when the Nets signed him to a multi-year deal that offseason. Langdon got to know him in Cleveland, which drafted Harris in the second round in 2014. The Cavaliers salary-dumped him to the Orlando Magic in January of 2016 after he underwent season-ending right foot surgery, and the Magic subsequently waived him.
In Cleveland, he appeared in 56 games through two seasons and struggled to knock down shots.But Harris broke out in Brooklyn, eventually becoming a starter and one of the NBA’s best shooters.
“I think Joe Harris was out of the league, and I remember Trajan saying 'hey, I didn’t think he had a bad summer league,' but he brought him back here,” Atkinson recalled. “Him and Sean were like, 'talk to this guy. He’s a really good player, just lost his confidence.' Sure enough, he was right. All those under the radar guys that we hit on, he had a hand in that.”
Langdon was also a key figure in the Nets signing other gems such as Spencer Dinwiddie, a Pistons second-round pick in 2014 who was traded to the Chicago Bulls two years later. Dinwiddie was in the G-League when he signed a partially guaranteed three-year deal with Brooklyn that December. He immediately became a productive rotation player for the Nets and finished third in the Most Improved Player race a season later.
Brooklyn won 20 games in Langdon's first season. Two seasons later, when he left for New Orleans in 2019, the Nets were fresh off a 42-40 season. Marks credits their collaborative approach to team-building, of which Langdon was a major part of.
“He was somebody I could lean on at all times and he could hold me accountable, and I encouraged him to do that,” Marks said. “Doesn't mean you’re going to agree on everything, but at the same time, he had a voice and was able to speak up. I respected the hell out of him and still do. He’s got tremendous upside and I wish him nothing but the very, very best.”
Why Pistons 'hit a home run'
Langdon was deeply involved in the medical side as well in Brooklyn, acting as a liaison between the performance team and front office, and between the players and performance team. As evidenced by his workout with Atkinson, Langdon is serious about fitness and offered counsel as an ex-player.
That expertise carried over to the Pelicans, where he helped to reshape their struggling medical staff. Langdon, who reportedly worked alongside director of performance and sports science Daniel Bove and athletic trainer Tom Maystadt on a daily basis regarding medical decisions, recently told NOLA.com the team didn’t have a physical therapist before he arrived.
“When you’ve worn that player hat, you have an understanding of your body and what goes into preparing for games and practices, and just having a long career,” Marks said. “He was definitely interested in that, curious and wanted to learn more and more about it, and he took it upon himself to do so. And I think he took it to another level when he was with New Orleans as well.”
Those who have worked with Langdon expressed high confidence in his ability to turn the Pistons around. He has been involved in every aspect of the game, and has hit big shots both on and off the floor.
Turning the Pistons around may be a heat check, but it’s one he has been preparing for his entire career.
More: Detroit Pistons' Tom Gores must let Trajan Langdon do it his way. No matter the cost.
“What I learned over time is when you take every step like Trajan has, two things happen — you develop an empathy for people in a certain role, and you develop a certain level of expectation because you’ve done it,” Tennessee men’s basketball assistant and former Pistons director of player personnel Gregg Polinsky, who worked in the Nets’ scouting department under Langdon, told the Free Press on Tuesday. “And then he also knows when you’ve done a good job or a piss-poor job, because he’s done that job. That’s what makes him special.”
“Don’t ever underestimate the power of togetherness. Trajan will bring that. I think Detroit hit a home run. I’m a big fan. Big, big fan of Trajan Langdon in every respect.”
[ MUST LISTEN: Make "The Pistons Pulse" your go-to Detroit Pistons podcast, available anywhere you listen to podcasts (Apple, Spotify) or watch live/on demand on YouTube. ]
Contact Omari Sankofa II atosankofa@freepress.com. Follow him@omarisankofa.
Feeling a draft?
What:2024 NBA draft.
Fast facts: Round 1— June 26; Barclays Center, New York;Round 2— June 27; Seaport District Studios, Secaucus, New Jersey.
Pistons’ picks (overall pick in parentheses): Round 1— 5 (5);Round 2— 23 (53)
