Warriors’ Dunleavy says Hawks can expect seamless transition to GM Onsi Saleh

He worked closely with former Warriors general manager and later president Bob Myers and current Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr., and was involved in a lot of the decisions pertaining to the salary cap and the cap rules. That background put him in the heart of helping the Warriors put together trades, as well as signing players.

A native of Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, Saleh earned a his law degree from Tulane University Law School in 2017, which allowed him to handle contracts and other duties on the business side.

Saleh also worked with Spurs CEO R.C. Buford before the Warriors hired him in 2021.

“I think with Onsi, first and foremost, I miss having him around,” Dunleavy said of the 38-year-old Saleh. “He’s just a good dude, and beyond the work that he was able to bring to our group, cap- and strategy-wise, I think, just his presence every day. He added to our culture, and not only in the front office, but the entire organization.

“And just a really, like, I said, really, really good dude. And one of the things that he was great with was, you know, with people, you know, communicating with people, whether it’s players, coaches, staff, agents. He’s just got a way about him. And he was able, not only to connect within our basketball group, but the business side, too, and to make those relationships. And he’s a really talented guy. And like I said, we, definitely miss him. The work’s one thing, but just the person, high character and a really good dude.”

For Dunleavy, Saleh’s ability to connect with people allows him to be adaptable and seamlessly transition into new roles.

During the Warriors’ hiring process of Saleh, Dunleavy remembers the easy nature of their conversations and how it felt like they’d known each other for a long time.

“You could just tell this guy was gonna fit right in,” said Dunleavy, who played 30 games for the Hawks in 2017. “And sure enough, when we hired him, he did. It was really seamless, and obviously he did a great job with the work and knowing the content, but just overall, his cultural add was tremendous.”

Along with the promotion of Saleh to general manager, the Hawks have hired Sportsology Group to help in their search for a new president of basketball operations. The Hawks have not provided a timeline for how long the search could take, but several major events affecting the team’s future sit on the horizon.

The Hawks have next month’s NBA draft lottery and then the NBA draft in June. Then the Hawks will need to tackle free agency at the turn of the league calendar at the end of June.

Until then, Saleh will lead the charge, and his experience has prepped for those tasks.

“I think he’s just, he’s measured in his evaluation,” Dunleavy said. “But I think he looks at it from a wide lens of not only from an eyeball scouting talent perspective, but also from an analytics perspective, in terms of what the players are doing and producing, and as well as a cap perspective. You know, how good of a contract is this player on, and what’s the value of that?

“So he kind of looks at it from a wide-ranging viewpoint, and I think that’s a really healthy way to go about it, and somewhere we’ll be good at. But like I mentioned, just this year alone, the amount of times when I spoke to him, when he was down the road, scouting players, speaks to the work ethic that he has and the time he’s putting in on looking at talent.”