CNN unknowingly interviews Detroit Pistons GM about Las Vegas heat

Las Vegas is enduring a scorching heat wave that even many residents will deem unbearable, but it’s not hot enough to stop Detroit Pistons general manager Troy Weaver from power walking.

With temperatures reaching historic heights, CNN had boots on the ground in Vegas this weekend. And as the cable news network sought to interview a person on the street who was willing to brave the heat, they came across a speed walker wearing Detroit Pistons gear.

Is….Is that Troy Weaver????@CNN @DetroitPistons @JLEdwardsIII pic.twitter.com/wKNLOui0Qa

— Connor Johnston (@JohnConnor9119) July 15, 2023

Although CNN labeled the person as a “Las Vegas resident” on their chyron, the interviewee was in fact Pistons general manager Troy Weaver. Later in the weekend, Weaver was on NBA TV during a Pistons Summer League game and described being interviewed by CNN while walking the streets of Vegas.

Troy Weaver, the man of many titles: Speed walker, Las Vegas resident, Detroit Pistons GM. pic.twitter.com/yHECt3F4EH

— Jeanna Trotman (@JeannaTrotmanTV) July 17, 2023

“It’s funny, I was walking the other morning and CNN grabbed me. So, people think I’m a Las Vegas resident,” Weaver said, generating a roar of laughter from the broadcast. “It’s the funniest thing. People are texting me, ‘You’re a Las Vegas resident now?’ I said, ‘No, they just grabbed me.’ The questioned me about the heat, which you guys know about.”

Too bad for CNN. Had they known who they were speaking to, maybe they would have pressed Weaver on the future of Bojan Bogdanović or the status of their epic teal horse uniform. Instead, they were relegated to talking about the Vegas heat.

Even if CNN knew all 30 teams have been traveling to Vegas to participate in the NBA Summer League every year since 2018, the Pistons t-shirt wasn’t necessarily enough to identify the general manager. Outside of Detroit, the Pistons’ general manager isn’t a super recognizable figure, so CNN shouldn’t be faulted for not knowing Troy Weaver. (And they’re not the first outlet to do a man-on-the-street interview with a GM in the last couple of months, as “Kyle from Chicago” knows well.) But they could have at least done enough diligence to ask Weaver where he was from rather than taking the liberty of assuming the power walker was a Vegas resident.

[WXYZ]