DETROIT — After enduring the worst season in franchise history and weeks of deliberation, the Pistons have decided head coach Monty Williams’ time in Detroit has come to an end.
The Pistons fired Williams Wednesday morning after just one season at the helm, a league source confirmed to The Detroit News.
The decision to officially cut Williams did not come lightly. The Pistons could be on the hook for the more than $60 million left on Williams’ deal that he signed a year ago this month.
“Decisions like these are difficult to make, and I want to thank Monty for his hard work and dedication,” Pistons owner Tom Gores said in a team statement. “Coaching has many dynamic challenges that emerge during a season and Monty always handled those with grace. However, after reviewing our performance carefully and assessing our current position as an organization, we will chart a new course moving forward.
“I have great respect for Monty as a coach and as a person and I am certain he will be successful in his future endeavors. I sincerely wish him and his family the very best.”
Williams was NBA Coach of the Year with the Phoenix Suns, and he became the best coaching candidate on the market after he was fired by the Suns last offseason. Williams initially planned to take this past year off of coaching after his wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with breast cancer during the 2023 playoffs. But the Pistons ultimately offered Williams a record-breaking contract that he couldn’t refuse.
The six-year, $78.5 million deal made Williams the highest-paid coach in NBA history. In his introductory conference last June, Williams, a coach with experience in developing young talent, spoke about his ambitions to turn the team around after years of futility.
Gores and since-ousted general manager Troy Weaver backed up Williams, and there was general belief that the team would take a step forward after finishing with the worst record in the NBA in 2022-23.
But disaster ensued. After starting the season 2-1, the Pistons went on a historic 28-game losing streak. Amid the skid, Gores met with select reporters, including The Detroit News, to apologize to fans and vow changes.
“We have to assess what’s not working here. I’m down to Monty (Williams) and I am talking about rotations,” Gores said in a Dec. 22 video call. “I don’t normally do that. And Monty’s so good, he knows what he’s doing and he’s open to even talking about it. We’re down to, ‘How do we fix things?’ We do have to change something.”
The Pistons ultimately finished with a franchise-low 14-68 record, leaving Detroit with the worst record in the league for the second consecutive season.
There was plenty of blame to go around for what went wrong with the Pistons last season.
There were some fatal flaws with the Pistons’ roster construction, including the lack of shooting and veteran leadership. Some players underperformed and Williams made some questionable rotation decisions, such as playing all-bench units and putting too much stock in 2020 No. 7 pick Killian Hayes, who’s been out of the league since he was waived in February.
When the season finally came to a close with a loss at San Antonio, it was inevitable that changes were coming.
Last month, Gores made the move to hire Trajan Langdon to be the team’s first president since 2018 and allowed Langdon the freedom to do what he felt was necessary to fix the Pistons’ woes after yet another season of regression.
“We are unwavering in our commitment to bring a championship-caliber team to Detroit,” Gores said in Wednesday’s statement. “We will be diligent and swift in our search for a new head coach to lead our exciting young core of players and will continue our vision towards building a best-in-class front office that will help us achieve sustainable success.”
Weaver was the first domino to fall in the Langdon era after his franchise restoration didn’t yield successful results in his four years. During Weaver’s tenure, the Pistons had an overall record of 74-244, and they haven’t made the playoffs in five seasons.
Langdon had to decide whether he had enough faith that Williams could deliver significantly more progress than his first season and help young players develop. Several reports indicated, though, that Gores had seen enough and gave Langdon the green light to move on from Williams, despite the massive buyout.
In the end, the move to clean house ultimately shows Detroit’s determination to resolve the mistakes of its past and break the Pistons out of the NBA’s basement after years of underperforming.
The Pistons have some more significant decisions to make in the coming weeks. They have not officially introduced Langdon in a press conference, and they’ll have to hire a general manager and coach. The NBA Draft is also next week, and they have the No. 5 overall pick.
The roster, as it stands, will not cut it as Detroit is in dire need of some veteran help to complement the team’s young core. Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Ausar Thompson are the players Langdon may look to build around.
The team has salary-cap flexibility as well as numerous assets that could aid in Langdon’s offseason roster improvements.
Needless to say, Langdon has his work cut out for him, as he’s tasked with having to chart a path forward for a team that’s been stuck for years in sub-mediocrity. Bringing in a new general manager and coach, though, was arguably a necessary place to start.