Exclusive: Why Andrew Slater left the NBA's Oklahoma City Thunder to become NC State’s GM under Will Wade

By Noah Fleischman

Although he’s been involved in basketball for more than two decades, Andrew Slater had butterflies for the first time before tipoff as he sat inside the Paycom Center ahead of Game 7 of the NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers this past June.

Slater, who was sitting in Thunder General Manager Sam Presti’s guest seats for the pivotal matchup, had his fingerprints all over Oklahoma City’s rebuild. The longtime talent evaluator and scout helped retool the Thunder into a contender post the Russell Westbrook and Paul George era, so the culmination of his work resulting in a possible championship left Slater emotional. 

By the end of the 103-91 win over the Pacers, however, the integral member of the Thunder’s front office was overjoyed.

“It was a sense of relief and accomplishment all in one,” Slater told TheWolfpacker.com in an exclusive interview inside his first-floor office of the Dail Basketball Center on Monday afternoon. 

But as Slater watched the Thunder claim the title, he wasn’t there as a member of the organization. He departed Oklahoma City for NC State when Will Wade was hired by the Wolfpack as one of the 42-year-old head coach’s first additions to his staff. 

Slater, who has a keen eye for talent and is one of the most-connected basketball minds on the East Coast, was tasked with becoming NC State’s first-ever men’s basketball general manager on a two-year, $400,000 contract as the program’s highest-paid staffer. 

“Andrew has developed into one of the best and most-coveted talent evaluators in basketball,” Wade said when he officially hired Slater in early April, “and he will have an integral part in helping build our program at NC State.”

It was a fast-moving introduction to college basketball in late March, but Slater led the charge in the Pack’s roster-building as the program needed to fill out its entire team via the transfer portal in a short time period.

He knew it was going to be a challenge to create a new team from scratch with just sophomore guard Paul McNeil on the roster, but Slater was up for the opportunity. He signed on with Wade in his first official foray into the college basketball scene because of the longtime coach’s track record and their previous bond over the years.

“I felt I could trust him,” Slater said. “For me, trust is probably the most important thing in a relationship. We had been through some stuff; obviously he’d been through some public stuff. I just believed in him, ultimately, and I believe in this situation as well.”

Slater saw similarities between the Thunder’s rebuild and constructing a team at NC State, but it was on a much more compressed timeline. Countless hours were spent combing through the transfer portal, looking for players who fit what Wade was looking for, while also checking several boxes Slater had in his own evaluations. 

After all, Slater’s job with the Thunder was not only to evaluate players, but to find out as much intel as possible about a person. If something happened in a player’s life — good or bad — Slater was able to find it. He took that same “character matters” approach in his job at NC State. 

“We’ve got one of the best in the country with Andrew Slater,” Wade said Monday. “Drew does a great job. We know stuff [players] don’t even know about themselves.” 

Pair that with being a down-the-middle person when it comes to identifying talent, a trait Slater picked up from the late, legendary New York City basketball scout Tom Konchalski, his mentor, and the general manager was able to craft reports that best told the story of each recruit the Wolfpack was interested in.

“[Konchalski] had an expression to don’t ever use the word great when you mean very good because you won’t have a word for greatness when you truly see it,” Slater said. “I think a lot of young scouts tend to be very hyped, they’re very emotionally [involved]. I think Sam liked it, and I think Will likes that I try to keep a steady hand. You’re never as bad as your worst performance or as good as your best performance. It’s probably somewhere in the middle.”

As a result, NC State signed nine experienced transfers to play critical roles within the Wolfpack this season. It was a complete roster overhaul from the Kevin Keatts era, a necessity since nearly every player with eligibility remaining entered the portal, but one that seemed to work out.

The Wolfpack inked the No. 3 portal class nationally, according to EvanMiya, headlined by Texas Tech’s Darrion Williams, a likely preseason All-America selection this year, while also nabbing the likes of Houston’s Terrance Arceneaux, Michigan State’s Tre Holloman and North Carolina’s Ven-Allen Lubin, among others.

Slater, a Duke graduate who thought he’d make a long career on Wall Street before diving into basketball with his elite ability to spot talent, is a tough grader on himself. But now, as time has passed from his marathon roster-building effort, Slater believes in the foundation he helped set for the Wade era in Raleigh.

“I feel better about it right now,” Slater said. “Obviously, to a degree, it was a shotgun wedding. He arrived at the end of March and was supposed to put an entire roster together [quickly]. I think you can see elements of what I’m interested in long term, in terms of character. I like shooting, I like defense. Those are things Sam would have liked as well.”

In a way, NC State’s roster was crafted with the same recipe as the Thunder. Those ingredients led to an NBA Championship, and as the longtime basketball scout reflected on his decision to leave Oklahoma City, chasing a title is important. He wouldn’t have left the NBA unless he knew reaching the mountaintop at the collegiate level would be attainable.

With Wade at the helm, Slater believes that is possible at NC State.

“I don’t just want to make the tournament, I’m not here to just do it,” Slater said. “I’m very intent, and I think Will has the stomach and ambition to try to go for a championship. If I didn’t think he was, I would have just stayed [with the Thunder].”

Slater already has a Larry O’Brien Trophy on his résumé. Now, he’s looking to add a few more banners to it in Raleigh. So far, he’s off to an impressive start to his tenure with the Wolfpack.