Weeks after hiring Trajan Langdon as the new general manager, the Detroit Pistons could soon have another big shift in their front office, with Monty Williams’ future suddenly unclear.
A year ago, the Pistons made Williams the highest-paid NBA head coach with a six-year, $73 contract. Only Gregg Popovich, who also serves as the Spurs’ team president, made more at the time of Williams’ hiring.
Now, according to The Athletic’s James L. Edwards, Pistons owner Tom Gores has given Langdon the clearance to make any coaching staff changes he wants.
“It is believed that the organization is now evaluating the coaching staff, including head coach Monty Williams, who signed a six-year, $73 million contract this time last year.”
James L. Edwards on the latest Detroit Pistons rumors
Williams led the Pistons to an NBA-worst 14-68 record during the 2023-24 season. That might have been easier to stomach if Detroit had some lottery luck, but they slipped to having the fifth pick instead, which only puts more pressure on the coaching staff to develop the young talent already on hand.
While Williams’ Pistons struggled mightily last season, he’s shown the ability to get much better results elsewhere. As the head coach of the Phoenix Suns, Williams led a 194-115 record, including a trip to the NBA Finals, yet the Pistons aren’t anywhere close to Monty’s teams of the past quite yet.
Not only will Langdon have a big decision to make on Williams and the rest of his coaching staff, the Pistons are also projected to have $65 million in cap space. But even if Williams is let go and another Pistons head coach is hired, those moves don’t impact the salary cap, so it’s all up to Langdon’s evaluation.
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