Monty Williams dismissed by Detroit Pistons after NBA-worst season just one year into six-year contract

Monty Williams was fired by the Detroit Pistons following an NBA-worst season on Wednesday.

Just one year into his six-year contract, Williams departs having overseen a torrid 14-68 season.

According to ESPN sources, it was a decision taken at ownership level, rather than from newly-hired president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon, who arrived last month.

It is thought that owner Tom Gores and vice-chairman Arn Tellem had been pushing for the dismissal, which will cost the Pistons $65million.

In his previous role as head coach of the Phoenix Suns, Williams advanced to the NBA Finals for his maiden and the franchise’s first appearance since 1993.

Then, in 2022, he would be named NBCA Coach of the Year for the second year running after finishing a 64-win franchise-record season, but just over a year later, he was out of a job.

And in his first year as head coach for the Pistons, Williams set a number of records, albeit unwanted ones.

The Pistons became the 13th team in NBA history to go winless for a calendar month, in November 2023, a run which would stretch to 28 games and the end of December.

No team had ever lost as many consecutive games in a single season in NBA history.

Now the Pistons find themselves in the difficult situation of looking for a new head coach a week before next Wednesday’s NBA draft, where they have fifth pick.

The franchise hired New Orleans’ long-standing shooting coach Fred Vinson as their assistant coach last week.

Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Lakers and Cleveland Cavaliers are still without head coaches of their own after the dismissals of Darvin Ham and J.B. Bickerstaff respectively.

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