Phoenix Suns: 5 candidates to replace Ryan McDonough as GM

3. Troy Weaver

Troy Weaver, Sam Presti’s right-hand man with the Oklahoma City Thunder, is one of the league’s up-and-coming front office executives who could be in line for his first general manager job in the near future.

Before Michael Winger was scooped up as the Los Angeles Clippers’ new general manager, the two assistant GMs made a great tandem in OKC, with Winger handling the business side and Weaver being known as an excellent evaluator of talent.

Weaver has been working with the Thunder since their days as the Seattle SuperSonics, and though he may be hard to pry away after turning down a few opportunities (he was reportedly a candidate for the Atlanta Hawks’ position before they hired Travis Schlenk), he’s played a part in quite a few successful drafts for the Thunder.

That kind of experience would no doubt be useful as Phoenix heads toward another likely top-five pick in 2019, but it sounds like the Suns will have a hard time convincing people to work under owner Robert Sarver.