Detroit Pistons To Hire Troy Weaver As New General Manger, Adrian Wojnarowski Reports
The NBA’s Detroit Pistons are finalizing the hire of a new general manager to work with Senior Advisor of Basketball Operations Ed Stefanski in taking the team to the next phase of its ongoing rebuild. Per a Twitter report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Troy Weaver is leaving his post as vice president of basketball operations with the Oklahoma City Thunder to become the Pistons’ GM.
In doing so, Weaver joined an expanding list of black GMs around the league, which includes James Jones of the Phoenix Suns, the New Orleans Pelicans’ Trajan Langdon, Brian Wright of the San Antonio Spurs, the New York Knicks’ Scott Perry, Elton Brand of the Philadelphia 76ers, the Chicago Bulls’ Marc Eversley, and Koby Altman of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Meanwhile, The Athletic‘s Shams Charania tweeted in April that the Denver Nuggets are looking to promote Calvin Booth to general manager. Masai Ujiri of the Toronto Raptors remains the league’s only black president of basketball operations.
Before making the move to Detroit, Weaver had been with Oklahoma since 2008. As Thunder GM Sam Presti’s proverbial right hand, Weaver played a significant role in helping construct the team over the last decade-plus, specializing in roster development and coordinating its player personnel efforts — including draft preparation, free agency, and summer league rosters — as well as assisting in day-to-day operations.
Prior to joining Presti in Oklahoma City, Weaver had spent three years with the Utah Jazz — first as a scout and later as the team’s director of player personnel. He was also an assistant coach at Syracuse for four seasons, during which he helped direct the team to the 2003 NCAA championship, in addition to stints with New Mexico and Pittsburgh.
He joins a Pistons squad that won’t be participating in the NBA’s 22-team restart in July. Detroit held a 20-46 record and the No. 13 spot in the Eastern Conference standings when play was suspended in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in early March. However, the team is just one year removed from a 41-41 campaign and a playoff berth in 2018-19.
While All-Star big man Blake Griffin is on a max contract with the team through at least next season — he owns a player option on his deal for the 2021-22 campaign — the Pistons have several contracts coming off the books after this season. This will afford Weaver and Stefanski more salary room to construct a viable roster.
As shared previously by The Inquisitr, Griffin recently spoke about his future with the Pistons during a video conference call with the Detroit Free Press. For his part, the 31-year-old said he would defer to the front office and that his staying or going was contingent upon how they want to proceed.
