Oklahoma City Thunder vice president of basketball operations Troy Weaver has reportedly emerged as the front-runner to become the next general manager of the Detroit Pistons, multiple sources reported on Monday morning.
The Pistons brass is “actively working to complete a deal to hire Weaver,” according to Marc Stein of the New York Times.
Yahoo's Vincent Goodwill added that “major hurdles have been cleared to pave way for OKC’s Troy Weaver to become Detroit Pistons new GM,” and that “Both sides want to make this happen.”
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, however, reported that Weaver is one of the three leading candidates for the Pistons gig, along with Los Angeles Clipper assistant general manager Mark Hughes and Brooklyn Nets assistant general manager Jeff Peterson. Wojnarowski, citing more than one source, noted that “conversations are continuing this week.”
After working with the highly-respected Sam Presti since 2008, Weaver has been one of the most sought-after GM candidates in the league in recent months. In 2019, the Washington Wizards interviewed Weaver for their open general manager position, as did the Chicago Bulls this past spring. Weaver, in fact, turned down the chance to go through a second round of interviews with Chicago, who ended up hiring former Denver Nuggets executive Arturas Karnisovas.
Detroit finished the 2019-20 season at 20-46, the third-worst record in the Eastern Conference. Without any prominent young stars, the franchise looks poised for yet another rebuild, as indicated by their Andre Drummond give-a-way at the trade deadline.
“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 adviser Ed Stefanski acknowledged in February.
Weaver, of course, brings plenty of experience helping orchestrate a small-market rebuild.
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