The Detroit Pistons have fired coach Monty Williams after one season and absorbed the remainder of his $65 million contract, sources told ESPN on Wednesday.
Trajan Langdon, the New Pistons’ president of basketball operations, has been meeting regularly with Williams about the future of the franchise since his hiring a month ago, but the decision to fire Williams was directed from the ownership level with Tom Gores, sources told ESPN.
The sources said that Langdon delivered the news to Williams on Wednesday morning.
Gores and Pistons vice chairman of the board Arn Tellem were advocates of Williams’ firing, sources said.
With the draft and free agency looming, Langdon won’t have a bad time to do a coaching search. The Pistons recently agreed to terms to hire New Orleans Pelicans assistant Fred Vinson as senior assistant coach, sources said. Vinson had a history with Williams and Langdon in New Orleans.
Gores lured Williams to Detroit with a historic six-year, $78 million contract after the Phoenix Suns fired him and assigned him to the Pistons’ massive rebuild. Williams was planning to sit out the season after his wife was diagnosed with cancer, but he was swayed by Goris’s courtship and huge offer to coach Detroit. Williams had a strong relationship with ousted general manager Troy Weaver.
The Pistons tied an NBA record with a 28-game regular season losing streak and finished the season with a league-worst 14-68 record.
The Pistons have gone 94-290 (.245) over the past five seasons, easily the worst in the league. Detroit was the third-youngest team in the league.
Detroit has the No. 5 pick in next Wednesday’s NBA draft.
The Pistons begin their coaching search as the two teams with openings — the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers — move closer to making decisions in their operations.
Williams reached the NBA Finals as the Suns’ coach in 2021-22, completing a massive turnaround with a 64-18 regular season record. Williams was 194-115 (.628) in four seasons with the Suns and was 173-221 (.439) in five seasons with the Pelicans that culminated with a playoff appearance.
ESPN Statistics & Information contributed to this report.
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