Detroit Pistons GM Troy Weaver was captured on cell phone video having a heated exchange with a fan at Little Caesars Arena, including what appears to be him saying something like, “You’re lucky I don’t beat your ass.” The audio quality, however, is not great.
The altercation seems to have occurred during Saturday’s 142-124 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. It’s unclear how long the interaction occurred before the cell phone started recording the exchange.
Troy Weaver got INTO it with a heckling fan at LCA.
Troy: “You’re lucky I don’t beat your ass.”
The fan was kicked out.
Via: psharma112 on Tik Tok pic.twitter.com/dUfmBcopHM— Eli Bashi (@EliBashiNBA) March 10, 2024
Let’s be extremely clear here. Troy Weaver has to be bigger than any sort of verbal altercation with any fan no matter what heinous comments are thrown his way. That’s what arena security is for. Let’s also be clear that we don’t precisely know if or what kind of heinous comments were levied at Mr. Weaver that led to such an extreme reaction.
If I was a betting man, I’d say it was something pretty bad. Why do I say that? Because this is surely not the first time Weaver has dealt with hecklers in his not-so-illustrious time in charge of the perenially losing Pistons. Second, I’ve been around the block to see this kind of reaction from shit-talkers before.
This guy is like an internet comment section or social media troll come to life. When you call them out on it, they scurry into their protective shell and act shocked and bewildered at any forceful pushback.
The fan in question, wearing a Detroit Red Wings denim jacket, says,“You suck at your job” but moreso as a question than as an actual statement. Kinda funny, if we’re being honest, but also someone who didn’t understand that when you try and pull off online snark in a real-world setting, someone might take it upon themselves to threaten to beat your ass.
As Weaver seems to motion for security to eject the fan, the fan responds, “He threatened me,” and then the video cuts off.
There has been no comment from the Pistons about the incident.
An Associated Press story about the incident spoke to one Pistons season ticket holder who was says he witnessed the confrontation and says the fan had walked over to Weaver earlier in the night with Weaver not providing much reaction. Then, the fan says, the man came back over in the fourth quarter after Jalen Duren’s ejection, and that is when the heated exchange occurred. The fan interviewed only recounts the portion caught on video of the man tells Weaver he is bad at his job. It’s unclear if the fan did it multiple times, set Weaver off, and reiterated it before being escorted away, or if the fan had other choice words that angered Weaver and then also said he was bad at his job as captured on the video afterward.