Pistons Were After Thunder's Weaver for Two Years

It took two years but, the Detriot Pistons finally convince Troy Weaver to become their General Manager. Find out here why now was the right time for Weaver to leave Oklahoma City.

It took the Detriot Pistons a couple of seasons, but they finally convinced Troy Weaver to leave Oklahoma City. Weaver had the opportunity to interview with the Pistons back in 2018; however, Sam Presti was not ready to let him go. 

During a video call, Owner Tom Gores confirmed he’d been coveting Weaver for a while.” We had actually tried to talk to Troy a couple of years ago. OKC wasn’t quite ready to let him go.”... “So, he’s been on our radar for a while.”

Weaver is taking over a position that had not existed in Detroit since Ed Stefanski was put in charge of the front office after Stan Vangundy’s firing. Gores says, “We didn’t have a lot of cap room at the time when Ed came on, so we felt like we really needed to clean things up.” 

The Detroit Pistons are finalizing a deal with Troy Weaver to make him the franchise's new general manager, sources tell ESPN. Weaver has been the VP of Basketball Operations with Oklahoma City.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 18, 2020

 “I think he did a great job. … The reason Ed did not come on as GM, we had decided that Ed was going to be one level kind of above that and that we needed to leave that spot open for our next 10, 15 years, for somebody like Troy."  Stefanski will stay on as Senior Advisor “Troy, Ed, and Dwane [Casey] will work on a day-to-day basis with each other.”... “Troy will have normal, and even higher than normal, GM responsibilities.

Detroit Pistons just Struck Gold by hiring Troy Weaver has their GM....he has one the Best eye for Talent in the NBA!!! 👊🏾😤

— Kendrick Perkins (@KendrickPerkins) June 18, 2020

Weaver spent 12 seasons in Oklahoma City eight as Vice President, above all, the Pistons value his ability to evaluate talent. Head Coach Dewayne Casey says, “I always recognized Troy as one of the top talent evaluators – you just look at the finished products in OKC, he had a big part of doing that.”

 “Not only that, he’s a man of his word.”... “He’s genuine, he’s real, and I will say this, and in today’s time, with all the unrest, here’s an opportunity for an African American man to be named to this position, and I’m going to credit Tom and Arn and Ed for opening up the door for the opportunity for him to step in.”

Weaver says he was committed to helping the Thunder win a championship, but feels the fit with Detriot is right.  The Pistons have not won a playoff game since 2008.