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AP WUSA9 Sports Anchor Marshall Kramsky has confirmed that the Washington Wizards are hiring Georgetown and NBA legend Patrick Ewing as an assistant coach, a move first reported by ESPN's Shams Charania.
Ewing returns to the sidelines in Washington after most recently serving as a team ambassador for the New York Knicks.
He will join head coach Brian Keefe's staff as the Wizards continue developing a young roster led by No.
1 overall pick AJ Dybantsa.
RELATED: Top draft pick AJ Dybantsa arrives in Washington, ready to work on turning the Wizards around The hiring brings Ewing back to an organization where his NBA coaching career began.
After retiring as a player, Ewing spent the 2002-03 season as an assistant coach with the Wizards before later joining coaching staffs in Houston, Orlando and Charlotte.
The move also reconnects Ewing with a storyline that emerged during this year's NBA Draft.
Dybantsa became the first player from Massachusetts to be selected No.
1 overall since Ewing was selected by the New York Knicks with the top pick in the 1985 NBA Draft.
The two also share Jamaican heritage and have developed a relationship through that connection.
For basketball fans in the District, Ewing remains one of the most recognizable figures in Georgetown history.
He led the Hoyas to the 1984 National Championship under legendary coach John Thompson and helped establish Georgetown as one of college basketball's premier programs.
Ewing returned to his alma mater in 2017 as head coach.
During his six seasons leading the program, he guided the Hoyas to the 2021 Big East Tournament Championship and an NCAA Tournament appearance before Georgetown parted ways with him in 2023.
As a player, Ewing was an 11-time NBA All-Star and the face of the Knicks franchise for more than a decade.
His No.
33 jersey was retired by New York in 2003, and he was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2008.
Now, one of the most accomplished figures in Washington basketball is returning to the city once again to help mentor the next generation of Wizards players, including a young No.
1 overall pick who already shares a unique connection with him.