One of the wealthiest men from Texas continues to cut the bottom line of his latest business acquisition.
On Wednesday, the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers executed a massive layoff, as new owner Tom Dundon—a Dallas-area native and Southern Methodist University graduate—let approximately 70 employees go, according to Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report.
The majority of the layoffs came on the business side, but basketball operations were also hit, including the termination of Blazers scout and Houston Comets legend Tina Thompson, who announced on Instagram that she was one of the 70 cuts.
“Thank you Rip City! It has been an absolute pleasure,” Thompson wrote in a post on Wednesday. “To My Guys, it has been an extreme joy to witness your work, your growth and your success! Keep blazing! And to all the really dope relationships we created, that span beyond, no goodbyes, always see you later!”
According to Chron.com’s Michael Shapiro, a source within the Comets and Houston Rockets organizations believes that Thompson will likely have an “open invitation” to join either team moving forward.
This round of layoffs comes after a series of early cost-cutting moves that raised eyebrows across the NBA landscape.
Dundon began his tenure as owner by refusing to pay for late checkouts at the Blazers’ hotel for team employees before an NBA play-in tournament game in Phoenix. During the playoffs, he declined to allow two-way players to travel to Texas during the first two games of the series against the San Antonio Spurs and recalled advanced scouts—including Thompson—from travel during the postseason.
The Blazers owner seems to just be trying to carry over his methods from owning the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes to his NBA team.
“I just don’t want to waste money. I want to invest it,” Dundon said on the Game Over podcast with Max Kellerman last week. “We’re going to take care of the players because it helps you win. It’s part of the deal.
“The Hurricanes, since I bought the team, have the first- or second-best record in the league,” Dundon said on the podcast. “So I’m just not going to waste $100 million just because somebody wants to write an article calling me cheap. I’m just not going to do it.”
For a Blazers and Rockets legend, his advice to Dundon is simple.
We’ll see if Thompson joins up with the Rockets or Comets in Houston, and if Dundon makes more cuts, maybe other teams will benefit from the loss of talent from the league’s proudest organizations.