Will Weaver has been handed the keys to the Brisbane Bullets, and the team is hoping he can lead the NBL franchise back to its glory days.
Weaver will step into the role of head coach and President of Basketball Operations for the Bullets, he told ESPN, with an eye toward bringing his wide-ranging experience and modern basketball philosophies to a club that desperately needed a change in direction.
"Old school principles, new school methods," Weaver told ESPN, on what he plans to bring to Brisbane.
"None of these things are easy, but they're also not complicated. You've got to get the building filled up with great people; you've got to do business in a way that everyone acknowledges is setting the standards.
"I know the people I've worked with in the past would attest that that's how I work, and I'm beyond thrilled to get to meet the Bullets faithful, because all I've heard for the 12 or 13 years I've been lucky enough to have been associated with Australian basketball is about how Brisbane is the best place to live on the planet, and the history of the Bullets has made it a basketball town forever. No matter what NRL or AFL titles live in Queensland at the moment.
"I'm thrilled and humbled to get to be part of it getting back to where it needs to be."
Weaver had been in deep discussions with the Bullets since late-2025, which included several in-person meetings with the team's ownership -- led by Jason Levien -- in Washington D.C. ESPN reported on those meetings in January.
He replaces Darryl McDonald, who served as the Bullets' interim head coach for their last 15 games of the 2025-26 NBL season after Stu Lash stepped down from the position in the middle of December after just eight months in the role.
Weaver is best known in the Australian basketball ecosystem for his time as head coach of the Sydney Kings for the 2019-20 NBL season. During his season at the helm, the Kings were regular season champions, but would end up withdrawing from the 2020 Grand Final series against the Perth Wildcats in March amid concerns about COVID-19. The Texas native has also spent significant time with the Australian Boomers -- the country's senior men's national team -- as an assistant coach for the 2014 FIBA World Cup and 2016 Olympics.
After leaving the Kings, Weaver was among the frontrunners for the Oklahoma City Thunder head coach position that eventually went to Mark Daigneault, before joining the Houston Rockets as an assistant. He then joined Paris Basketball as head coach, before returning to the NBA ranks. Weaver is held in high esteem among the NBA community, having served as a special assistant to Brett Brown with the Philadelphia 76ers and having held the same position under Kenny Atkinson with the Brooklyn Nets.
Weaver admits he's returning to the NBL with more grey hairs - he hopes that's a "proxy for wisdom" - than when he was last in the league but has consistently eyed when he could possibly return to Australia.
Every offseason since leaving the Kings in 2020, the American has been approached by NBL teams with head coach vacancies, and put serious consideration into some of those overtures, and he even spent a month traveling around Australia over Christmas of 2024 in order to keep his connection with the country, while continuing to cultivate his network in the region.
"Every day since leaving Sydney, I've dreamed of what it would be like to be back in Australia and enjoying all the things that go with coaching and working with Australians and Kiwis again; coaching in the NBL again," Weaver said.
"It's one of one. I wondered if the stars were ever going to align to where my family could return... sure enough, they did."
Over the 2025-26 NBA season, Weaver has served in a coaching advisory role with the Charlotte Hornets. Weaver plans to remain in his role with the Hornets until their NBA season comes to an end, but has already assumed his responsibilities with the Bullets ahead of NBL free agency in April, where he'll play the leading role in building his team's roster for the 2026-27 NBL campaign.
The official basketball operations title is new for Weaver, though he's served the function on many an occasion. During Weaver's time in Sydney, for example, he worked with CEO Chris Pongrass on the roster construction, and has visibility within basketball across all levels, including the Australian national program.
The Bullets had a desire to give Weaver the title of president in order to give him the latitude to shape and implement a long-term vision for sustained success across the franchise, sources told ESPN, while also providing a level of accountability.
The team will enter free agency with much of its local core locked in, with Tyrell Harrison, Mitch Norton, Jacob Holt, and Taine Murray contracted, while there are mutual options for both Sam McDaniel and Jensen Bradtke.
"Maybe the reason I was the right person is that I have an appreciation of how hard it is to run any professional sports team, but certainly one in a league as competitive as the NBL," Weaver said.
"I've spent a lot of time next to, and mostly learning from and listening to, really smart, diligent billionaires and millionaires running sports teams all over the world, and not one of them would make light of the fact of how challenging it can be. Despite the best intentions, it's a wicked learning environment.
"I have been really impressed with the ambition of the group I'm working with, but also the humility. Over the long haul, that combination pays."
While Weaver was amid a fruitful career where he'd worked across different NBA teams, the idea of rebuilding the Bullets franchise - while moving his young family back to Australia - was one that enamoured him.
The Bullets haven't made the postseason since the 2018-19 season, and are coming off four straight campaigns where they haven't finished higher than seventh on the NBL ladder. When Weaver takes the reins ahead of the 2026-27 season, it will mark 20 years since the Bullets won the franchise's last NBL championship.
Weaver is acutely aware of this context, as well as the franchise's struggles with coaching, roster construction, and identity over the 2020s; that, along with the prospect of living in a city he and his family are extremely fond of, were the catalysts for the respected coach to accept this holistic position.
"The opportunity," Weaver said, when asked why he was interested in the position.
"The commitment that ownership has shown, in my many conversations with them, has convinced me that they're serious, and that we're gonna be given the opportunity to build something very special. And that's a rare opportunity.
"I have been really impressed with the ambition of the group I'm working with, but also the humility. Over the long haul, that combination pays."
"I'm beyond fortunate and grateful for the options that have come my way in my basketball journey. I certainly could never have dreamed of them when I was video coordinator for the Philadelphia 76ers, working for Brett Brown.
"The Weavers are in a different stage of life as they've been previously; we would not be moving from New York City - a city we love - and an incredible job if I wasn't fully committed to this position and living back in Australia."