Capital City Go-Go likely to name Pops Mensah-Bonsu as GM, Jarell Christian as coach, according to report

The Wizards will reportedly be naming Pops Mensah-Bonsu the general manager and Jarell Christian the coach of their new G-League affiliate, the Capital City Go-Go, according to Adam Johnson of 2 Ways & 10 Days.

Mensah-Bonsu is a familiar name for many local basketball fans. He played four years at George Washington University, where he led the Colonials to two NCAA tournament appearances and made a name for himself as one of the most exciting big men in the nation.

He went undrafted, but wound up playing four seasons in the NBA with the Mavericks, Spurs, Raptors, and Hornets, in between stints in the G-League. He also played for the Wizards during their 2013 training camp, but didn’t make the final roster.

Mensah-Bonsu retired from playing in 2015 and took a role as a representative with the Players’ Association for a year before joining the Spurs as an advance pro scout in 2016. Now, he’ll be back in the G-League where he was named the All-Star Game MVP back in 2007.

The Go-Go’s reported new head coach, Jarrell Christian, will bring experience working under Scott Brooks to the new team. He’s worked on the Thunder’s G-League coaching staff since 2014, and served as the team’s interim head coach in 2016 after Mark Daigneault, the Oklahoma City Blue’s head coach, was called up fill in as an assistant for Billy Donovan’s coaching staff.

We’ll see how things play out when the team starts play this fall, but plucking people from stable organizations like the Spurs and Thunder is a good place to start when it comes to building an affiliate from the ground up. Maybe Mensah-Bonsu can teach Robinson a thing or two about how to throw it down in games.