Daryl Morey General Manager

Lore & Background

Morey was born in Baraboo, Wisconsin. He graduated from Highland High School near Medina, Ohio, earned a bachelor's degree in computer science with an emphasis on statistics from Northwestern University in 1996, and an MBA from the MIT Sloan School of Management. He began his career at STATS, Inc. in 1992, where he adapted Bill James' Pythagorean expectation to basketball. He later worked at EY-Parthenon as a principal consultant.

In 2002, he became senior vice president of operations for the Boston Celtics. He joined the Houston Rockets as assistant general manager on April 3, 2006, and succeeded Carroll Dawson as general manager on May 10, 2007. During his tenure, the Rockets posted the second-most wins in the NBA from 2007 to 2020, behind only the San Antonio Spurs. After acquiring James Harden via trade in fall 2012, the team posted the third-best record behind the Spurs and Golden State Warriors during Harden's tenure.

The Rockets advanced to the Western Conference Finals in 2015 and 2018. Morey was named NBA Executive of the Year for the 2017–18 season. His teams never won a championship or reached the NBA Finals. In 2019, his tweet supporting the Hong Kong protests led to suspension of mainland Chinese sponsors.

He resigned from the Rockets and joined the 76ers in 2020. After the 76ers lost to the New York Knicks in the 2nd round of the 2026 playoffs, Morey parted ways with the 76ers.

Reader's Guide

Morey's basketball philosophy heavily relies on analytics, favoring three-point field goals and layups over mid-range jumpers. This style is called "Moreyball." He co-established the MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference and is co-chairperson for the annual conference. He is an avid esports supporter, part owner of Clutch Gaming, and passionate about musical theater—he commissioned and produced the basketball-themed musical Small Ball. He is also an avid chess player with a chess bot on Chess.com. As general manager of the Rockets, he integrated advanced statistical analysis with traditional scouting. He orchestrated the trade for James Harden in 2012. With the 76ers, he said in 2021 that three-pointers should be worth 2.5 points and the court should be widened. In 2022, he traded Ben Simmons for James Harden. In 2025, he revealed the 76ers used AI to help make team decisions.

Did You Know?

• Morey was the first to adapt Bill James' Pythagorean expectation to professional basketball, using 13.91 as the exponent.
• He was featured as a chess bot on Chess.com and was rated 1700 as of February 2024.
• Michael Lewis featured Morey as the central figure in his 2016 book The Undoing Project.
• Morey's tweet about Hong Kong in 2019 was his first public expression of political views.