Longtime Rockets CEO Tad Brown, who stepped down in April after nearly 20 years with the organization, was named on Monday the CEO of the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Devils.
Brown said when leaving the Rockets that he did not know what he would do next but that he did not play to retire.
Brown will succeed Scott O’Neil, who last month stepped down from his position as the Sixers-Devils CEO. Brown will be reunited with former Rockets general manager Daryl Morey who last season left the Rockets and quickly took the position as 76ers president.
The Rockets’ agreement with Morey, Brown and others that were part of sale when the team was sold to Tillman Fertitta in 2017 gave five-year guaranteed contract extensions in which they will get paid by the Rockets, even after taking positions with other organizations, a person with knowledge of the agreements said. That could have worked to provide incentives to leave the team during that five-year period.
