Troy Weaver close to becoming next Pistons GM, according to reports

Oklahoma City Thunder vp of basketball ops Troy Weaver has emerged as the favorite to become the next GM of the Detroit Pistons with both sides interested in closing the deal, according to media reports.

Marc Stein of the New York Times was the first to break the news, calling Weaver the Pistons’ “top choice” and that the franchise was actively working on a deal. Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports adds on that “major hurdles” had been cleared and that both Weaver and the Pistons organization wanted to see a deal finalized.

Finally, there is, of course, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. He confirms Detroit’s interest in Weaver, but writes that he is one of three top candidates for the GM position along with Clippers assistant GM Mark Hughes and Nets assistant GM Jeff Peterson.

Weaver was the consensus home run pick going into the process but all three of those candidates would have been encouraging hires. Hughes has been a member of an extremely dynamic and successful Clippers front office and is a Michigan native while Peterson was part of building from nothing in Brooklyn, and has been a part of its vaunted player development program.

Weaver also has a high-caliber player development background. He has risen through the ranks in OKC under Sam Presti and is credited with coordinating player personnel matters including NBA Draft prep, free agency and summer league rosters. Prior to joining the Thunder, he was a head scout for the Utah Jazz and eventually was named the director of player personnel.

Weaver would become the seventh black general manager in the NBA — a league whose rosters are 75% black. In the past calendar year, the Pistons lost their only two non-white executives as Sachin Gupta was hired away by the Minnesota Timberwolves and assistant GM Malik Rose took a job within the NBA front office.

With the hiring of Weaver, it is still likely that the Pistons would look to hire one or more executives to refill their ranks. It is also unclear if the current front office will remain in place under senior adviser Ed Stefanski and, potentially, Weaver. Pat Garrity, a holdover of the Stan Van Gundy era is currently associate general manager and Gregg Polinksy is director of player personnel.

Previous reports indicate the Pistons were interested in adding a few former Detroit legends as an assistant GM — Tayshaun Prince, who currently serves as the VP of basketball affairs for the Memphis Grizzlies, and Chauncey Billups, who is interested in leading a team’s front office but seems reluctant to jump away from a lucrative TV career for an assistant position.

We will have more about Weaver in the future. In the meantime, what are you thinking about this potential hire?