Bulls Rumors: Troy Weaver Declined Exec Interview, Felt It Was a 'Token Offer'

Oklahoma City Thunder executive Troy Weaver reportedly declined to interview with the Chicago Bulls for their head of basketball operations role because he didn't feel he was a legitimate candidate, according to Marc J. Spears of ESPN:

The Bulls had been seeking a new top executive as part of the front office restructure, but Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas was considered the "clear favorite" to land the job, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.

Chicago had interviewed a lengthy list of experienced personnel, but as Spears noted, none were African American.

"It's clear there is an underlying hypocrisy telling us the NBA is diverse, but when an opportunity comes, the process isn't," one black assistant NBA general manager told Spears. "All we want is a chance. As a black man, all we want is a fair opportunity to show we are just as qualified."

Weaver, who is African American, is the Thunder's vice president of basketball operations and had spent seven seasons as an assistant general manager. 

Bulls president Michael Reinsdorf defended himself against accusations of racism in the hiring process, per K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports:

"To have the Chicago Bulls put in the light that we are a racist organization, it hurts. And what it means is people don't understand how we operate or the process we went through to hire our head of basketball operations. Diversity is incredibly important to me. It's incredibly important to our organization. It's something that we pay attention to every day. Every time we go through a hiring process on the business side or the basketball side, we include diverse candidates. Every time."

The Bulls are looking to replace the front office tandem of John Paxson and Gar Forman, and reports Friday suggested Karnisovas intends to hire two African Americans as general manager and assistant general manager.

Yahoo Sports' Vincent Goodwill reported Karnisovas' targets for the GM role are all African American, while NBC Sports Chicago's Rob Schaefer wrote that J.J. Polk will be hired as the assistant GM.