The Pistons have signed general manager Troy Weaver to a contract extension, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link).
According to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link), Weaver’s extension was agreed to months ago. It’s unclear if the team simply didn’t announce it at the time or if it wasn’t officially finalized until now. Either way, it’s a done deal now.
Charania’s report doesn’t specify how many years the Pistons have added to Weaver’s contract or how long he’ll be under team control going forward. However, when he first joined the franchise in 2020, Weaver reportedly signed a four-year contract — he’d be in the third year of that deal now, which means his current contract was set to expire in 2024. I’d be surprised if his extension doesn’t tack on at least two more years.
Since arriving in Detroit, Weaver has been guiding the Pistons through a rebuilding process and stockpiling young talent. During his first offseason, he added Killian Hayes, Isaiah Stewart, and Saddiq Bey in the draft and landed Jerami Grant in free agency. He selected Cade Cunningham with the No. 1 overall pick the following year and then drafted Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren in this year’s lottery while trading Grant to Portland and acquiring Bojan Bogdanovic from Utah.
With Cunningham out for the season following surgery on his leg, the Pistons haven’t taken the step forward they’d hoped to this year — they currently rank last in the NBA with an 8-25 record. Still, team owner Tom Gores has expressed optimism about the direction of the organization.
“We’re growing,” Gores said last month. “Right now, we have an amazing core group and a lot of confidence. We’re better than our record is. We’re much better than that and I like the way that this team has a lot of heart. I feel great about it. (head coach) Dwane (Casey)‘s doing good work. Troy continues to think about growth and everything, so I feel great about it.”
Casey received a contract extension in 2021 that runs through the 2023/24 season, so the Pistons will face a decision on his future within the next 18 months or so.
How do you rank these 5 GMs for the past 2 seasons?
Pistons
Magic
Hornets
Lakers
Rockets
Factors to be considered
Excitement
Talents
Time Frame
Magic
Rockets
Pistons
Hornets
Lakers
Magic have done fantastic between their belief in Fultz, drafting Banchero and Wagner, and getting Bol. Suggs also still has some serious upside.
Rockets are underrated. KJ Martin, Porter Jr., Senguin, Jalen Green, and Jabari Smith have the makings of a great future core. Not there yet…
But I put them ahead of Detroit because the Pistons have a logjam in the frontcourt, can’t keep Cade healthy and productive at the same time (and I /really/ think he’s overrated), and the long-term signing of Bogey and then refusing to trade him is a bad move imo. He’s a great player, but he’s inhibiting some of the growth of said frontcourt and wing guys.
Hornets are bad. They have no true bigs. Continuing to overvalue guys like Hayward while they get hurt all the time. And their lack of depth has bitten them hard this year.
The Lakers FO is a straight gongshow. Pelinka should be fired. It’s one thing to have players trying to team up, but as the GM you have the final say. You have to put your foot down and tell players to eff off if the move doesn’t make sense for your team. And even his minimum-value signings and trades have been lackluster at best.
Ask this again in 5 years.
Sullivan, this was a good post. I actually enjoyed thinking about this, and I read a lot of stupid comments here usually but I love these sorts of questions.
Duren.
LOL. DET has the worst overall record in the league since he took over, and its mid-way through year 3. No doubt in a world where tanking is a sacrament, he’s deserves an extension and a raise. But giving it to him clearly eliminates any pretense that the organization was doing anything but trying to lose.
They gave it to him months ago, probably when Bojan was traded there.
He’s building the Pistons the right way through the draft. Much the same way the 76’ers done and the Thunder of old and new.. he shed the team of high price contracts and guys with decent cheap contracts in exchange for draft picks. They have nearly $40 million to spend in the offseason to get a star player or multiple role players. Pistons fans know this isn’t a quick process and we’re ok with it because next year is when the fruits should start to show.
It may the right way from DET’s perspective, but, even from that, it certainly requires no skill for which anyone should be rewarded. Anyone can lose, and almost any $0.99 computer program would have picked CC with the 1st overall, and Ivy with the 5th overall.