Los Angeles Clippers promote Gary Sacks to vice president of basketball operations

The Los Angeles Clippers have promoted Gary Sacks, the team's director of player personnel, to vice president of basketball operations.

The Los Angeles Clippers didn't skip a beat this offseason without a full-time general manager, and the team has decided to fill the void by promoting from within rather than hiring an outsider.

The Clippers announced the promotion of Gary Sacks from director of player personnel to vice president of basketball operations on Tuesday. In so doing, the Clippers solidified a three-man basketball operations brain trust that also includes president Andy Roeser and coach Vinny Del Negro.

"Gary has been a valuable and loyal member of our organization for the past 18 years," Clippers’ President Andy Roeser said. "His recent role this very productive summer, as well as his many contributions during the course of his tenure, made it clear that he is the right person to lead our basketball operations department."

"I’m excited to take on this new role with the organization," Sacks said. "We have a very strong roster with great depth of talent. I look forward to helping to build on the success we had last season. I am very excited to see how far we can go this year, plus we are well-positioned for the future... I appreciate the confidence that that Mr. Sterling has placed in me, and I look forward to continuing to work with Vinny and Andy."

Sacks has been with the Clippers organization for nearly two decades, working his way up through the scouting department.

This promotion comes a few weeks after All-Star Clippers forward Blake Griffin advocated on Sacks' behalf in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

"I think Gary has a great relationship with all the players and the players like him," Griffin said. "If he is finally named GM, I think that's just the icing on the cake of having a franchise that is complete."

This summer, the Clippers made a number of major personnel moves, trading for Lamar Odom, re-signing Griffin and Chauncey Billups, sign-and-trading for Willie Green, and signing Jamal Crawford, Grant Hill, Ronny Turiaf and Ryan Hollins as free agents.

The Portland Trail Blazers hired former Clippers general manager Neil Olshey in June.