Bucks refuse to allow Pistons to interview Jon Horst.
The Detroit Pistons’ search for a new president of basketball operations may have to start over.
According to Marc Stein’s recent Substack piece, sources informed him that the Bucks declined to allow Detroit to interview Jon Horst, despite the Milwaukee team president allegedly being receptive to the meeting.
Horst was named the league’s Executive of the Year in 2018-19 and helped the Bucks win their first title after a 50-year drought in 2021. Horst signed a long-term contract agreement with the club that fall. He most recently helped orchestrate the team’s acquisition of All-Star point guard Damian Lillard last offseason, as well as the re-signing of aging stalwarts Khris Middleton and Brook Lopez to lucrative contracts.
Milwaukee experienced a rough 2023-24 season. Horst hired and fired first-time head coach Adrian Griffin, who led the team’s Lillard-Giannis Antetokounmpo superstar duo, and replaced him with Doc Rivers. With Jrue Holiday gone, the team’s perimeter defense deteriorated, though Rivers helped stabilize it slightly when he took over. Ultimately, the Bucks finished with a 49-33 record and the East’s third seed. Lillard and Antetokounmpo were sidelined by injuries, and Milwaukee was defeated in its first-round series against the sixth-seeded Indiana Pacers.
Horst is a Michigan native, so his desire to work for his home state’s team makes sense. Conversely, it makes sense for the Bucks to avoid losing their top front office decision maker, who has been the architect of much of their recent success with Antetokounmpo, to a direct Central Division competitor.
The Pistons have also been linked to Mavericks consultant Dennis Lindsey and former Knicks general manager Scott Perry. Stein has previously stated that Timberwolves president Tim Connelly was considered a potential target if he decided to opt out of his present deal, which was signed when Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore were expected to become Minnesota’s primary owners.
The Pistons are coming off one of their worst seasons ever, finishing with a league-low 14-68 record in Monty Williams’ first season as head coach. Detroit was undoubtedly hoping to secure the No. 1 pick in this year’s draft after a disastrous 2023-24 season, but the team dropped in Sunday’s draft lottery and will now pick fifth.
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