Pistons fire coach Monty Williams for one season in a record $78.5 million contract

The Detroit Pistons have fired coach Monty Williams, the team announced on Wednesday. The decision to part ways with Williams now reportedly came at the ownership level. Williams, who was hired last offseason on a then-unprecedented six-year contract worth $78.5 million, lasted just one year in his new role with the Pistons. He went 14-68 in a disastrous season that included a 28-game losing streak.

“These types of decisions 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 arise during a season and Monty has always handled them with grace. But after carefully reviewing our performance and assessing our current position as an organization, we will chart a new course for the future.”

The Pistons already made a change in their basketball department when they brought in Trajan Langdon from the New Orleans Pelicans as their new president. Former general manager Troy Weaver left the team shortly thereafter, and with Langdon in place, it appears the Pistons have decided to completely clean things up and start over without former NBA finalist Williams.

The contract Williams signed last season has once again set the market in motion for the NBA’s other top coaches. Shortly after Williams signed, Erik Spoelstra earned a new eight-year, $120 million deal with the Miami Heat and that’s the new standard. Ty Lue, Gregg Popovich and Steve Kerr all signed hefty new extensions in the past year at higher annual salaries than what the Pistons gave Williams.

Detroit had to pay Williams so much because he was in high demand after a successful stint with the Phoenix Suns. The Pistons, who were coming off a 17-win season at the time, didn’t have a very attractive job to offer, and reports indicated the front office was split between multiple candidates. Williams, by far the most talented coach Detroit spoke to, emerged as a reasonable compromise, and owner Tom Gores opened his checkbook to bring him on board.

But his lone season with the Pistons didn’t go at all as planned. Detroit won fewer games last season than it did before Williams’ arrival, despite the return of former No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham from an injury that kept him out of most of the 2022-23 season. Key young players like Jaden Ivey struggled to find their place in a system, while older, less important players like Killian Hayes played far more than the numbers suggested. Detroit’s limited spacing made it difficult for their young ballhandlers to develop, and Williams didn’t help with an offensive scheme that emphasized mid-range looks.

That system was viable in Phoenix with Chris Paul and Devin Booker. It didn’t work with a younger roster in Detroit. The Pistons need to turn years of good picks into a viable, balanced team. They will now bring in a new coach to help them with this.