Morgan Cato becomes NBA’s first Black female assistant general manager

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Morgan Cato has become one of the highest-ranking women in the NBA after the Phoenix Suns hired her to become assistant general manager and vice president of basketball operations.

The Suns announced on Monday that Cato would be joining the organization after working for the NBA league office for the past decade.

“We’re excited to welcome Morgan to the Valley and to the Suns organization” said General Manager James Jones. “With the league office Morgan played a pivotal role on countless initiatives to grow the game and strategically develop for it to be played at its best. The addition of her background and knowledge will allow us to elevate our basketball operations in several areas.”

OFFICIAL: Suns name Morgan Cato Assistant General Manager and Vice President of Basketball Operations.

— Phoenix Suns (@Suns) June 20, 2022

The Suns say that Cato will report to Jones and work with Head Coach Monty Williams to lead the team’s strategy and business processes for basketball growth and performance with a focus on coaching development, player engagement, and front office personnel operations.

Black Women Making Sports History

Cato is not the only pioneer for Black women in the sports world to make recent history. Earlier this month, with the announcement of the purchase of the Denver Broncos, Mellody Hobson became the first Black woman with an equity stake in a team in NFL history.

Hobson, co-CEO of Ariel Investments, is a part of an ownership group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton. Hobson’s exact stake details have not been released, but the group purchased the Broncos for $4.65 billion, which makes any worthwhile stake that Hobson possess of significant value.

“Beyond her role at Ariel, Mellody is an influential leader in corporate and civic organizations across the nation,” Walton said in a press release.

“Mellody currently serves as Chair of the Board of Starbucks Corporation and is also a director of JPMorgan Chase. We know she will bring her strategic acumen and leadership perspective to our team.”

The NBA and NFL are both in the middle of a pivotal moment where the leagues are making an emphasis for their front offices and ownerships to match the majority Black player demographics. Both leagues consist of about 70% of Black players, yet not one Black owner of a team between the two leagues despite them having 62 teams combined.