NEW YORK (AP) - The Atlanta Dream have fired president and general manager Chris Sienko.
He came to the team in 2017 as general manager and was promoted to president the following year.
“The Dream and Chris Sienko have parted ways,” the team said in a statement provided to The Associated Press on Wednesday. “We thank Chris for his contributions.”
The Dream won a franchise-record 23 games in the 2018 regular season and reached the semifinals of the playoffs. Sienko was honored as the league’s Executive of the Year that season.
Atlanta has struggled lately, going 15-41 over the last two seasons. The Dream drafted Chennedy Carter last year and took Aari McDonald with the No. 3 pick last week.
They underwent a highly publicized ownership change in February, when former Atlanta guard Renee Montgomery purchased the team as part of a three-member investor group. Real estate investor Larry Gottesdiener was approved as majority owner of the team. The investor group also includes Suzanne Abair, president of Northland Investment Corp. in Massachusetts, the firm Gottesdiener founded.
The ownership change followed pressure on former U.S. Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a Republican who angered WNBA players with her opposition to the league’s racial justice initiatives, to sell her share of the Dream.
One of the first moves Sienko made in 2018 was signing Montgomery as a free agent.
Before coming to Atlanta, Sienko served as vice president, chief operating officer and GM of the Connecticut Sun for 14 seasons. He helped the franchise become the first profitable team in WNBA history.
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