New York Times sports reporter Marc Stein said that the Detroit Pistons are eying on Oklahoma City Thunder vice president of basketball operations Troy Weaver as they continue their search for a general manager.
Stein reported that the Pistons are “actively working to complete a deal to hire Weaver.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, citing sources, reported on Monday: “Three serious candidates have emerged for the Detroit Pistons GM job: Clippers assistant GM Mark Hughes, Nets assistant GM Jeff Peterson and [Weaver]. Those conversations are continuing this week.”
The Washington Wizards interviewed Weaver for their GM vacancy in May 2019. He turned down the opportunity to go through a second round of interviews earlier this spring with the Chicago Bulls, who were looking for a head of basketball operations.
In a 2017 interview with The Oklahoman’s Brett Dawson, Weaver explained he wasn’t going to leave Oklahoma City without feeling confident about the direction of his next franchise.
“More often than not, you’re going [to a new job] because they haven’t had success,” he said. “You want to feel good that you’re going into a situation where your vision matches up with the ownership and the city’s vision for success.”
Since May 2008, Weaver has worked alongside Sam Presti as Oklahoma City assembled a roster that included three future MVPs (Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden), reshuffled after Durant’s departure with the acquisition of Paul George and then tore it all down while stockpiling draft picks.
“We were always discussing that we’re going to have to probably rebuild because we’re in the middle of the pack and to me that’s not the place we want to be and where fans want to be,” Pistons senior adviser Ed Stefanski told reporters in February.
Stefanski said that after the Pistons traded Andre Drummond for pennies on the dollar. The return from that move (Brandon Knight, John Henson and a 2023 second-round pick) showed Detroit was effectively waving the white flag in terms of a playoff push for the next few years.
Detroit finished the 2019-20 season with the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference (20-46), and it’s likely headed for a lengthy rebuild.
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Shawn Stewart is a writer for Sports 4 America , you can follow him on Twitter @Sports4Stewart