Basketball

New Orleans Pelicans hire WNBA legend Swin Cash to front office

By Joshua Pease Jun 10, 2019
Swin Cash (Amy Sussman/AP Images for Cynoposis Media)

Swin Cash created a stellar resume during her 14 years in the WNBA. She’s a three-time WNBA champion, a six-time All-Star, a two-time All-Star Game MVP, and in 2016 was named one of the 20 greatest and most influential players in WNBA history.

Now Cash is taking her legacy to the NBA, as one of the highest-ranking female executives in the league. The New Orleans Pelicans have hired Cash as their vice president of basketball operations and team development, where in addition to other roles she will work on scouting and player development.

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“We are beyond thrilled to welcome Swin Cash and her family to the New Orleans Pelicans,” said Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin in a release. “Her legendary experience as a player, champion and winner at every level, on and off the floor, represents everything we want this organization to be about.”

“I will use my experience as a professional athlete in the WNBA, Vice President of the WNBPA, businesswoman and philanthropist, along with the knowledge I’ve gained as a front office executive, to cultivate the organization’s basketball culture on the court and in the community,” Cash said.

This is not the first time Cash has broken boundaries in her career. Her position as director of franchise development for the New York Liberty was the first position of its kind in the WNBA, and she was the first female studio analyst for an NBA club when she took a job with MSG Network.

Cash’s trailblazing hasn’t always been easy.

“I’ve gotten nothing but positive feedback with MSG Network,” Cash told ABC News. “But I’ve seen the good and the bad with a lot of different people. You’re going to run into people — whether they’re male or female — they can be jealous. It can be because I’m a woman. It can be because I’m African-American, you don’t know. I just try to do the best that I can do and make sure that I do my research and that I speak about the things that I know.”

Cash’s Christian faith has long been a facet of her life, and a source of strength and confidence. In an article for FCA, she reflected on how Christians are always tested, and the importance of seeing these as opportunities to strengthen faith.

“My story — and really my purpose — in sports is still being written. Whenever I need encouragement in my faith, I look back to a lesson my mom taught me while I was in high school after our team had lost the state championship. I was so devastated that I couldn’t go to school for days, and I didn’t want to do anything. But my mom reminded me in that moment that God had a bigger plan for me and that all I had to do was trust in Him. That vital truth stayed with me, and now, years later, I can see that His plan for me has been far greater than I ever could have imagined.

“Thankfully, it’s still not finished. There is still so much more that I want to give to this world, and, through His grace, I know He will use me for His glory to achieve those purposes. My role is simply to focus on becoming a better woman, daughter, friend and leader and let Him take care of the rest.”

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