UNBELIVABLE,THE PHOENIX SUNS FORMER HEAD COACH Monty Williams HAS OFFICIALLY ANNOUNCE HIS RETURN TO THE TEAM.
The Phoenix Suns, who were eliminated in the second round of the 2023 NBA Playoffs, fired Head Coach Monty Williams today. The Suns’ disappointing 45-win season came to an end as they lost 4-2 to the Denver Nuggets, despite the acquisition of superstar Kevin Durant in a mid-season trade. The loss was largely caused by the Suns’ lack of depth and incapacity to stop Nuggets center Nikola Jokic, but new Suns owner Matt Ishbia felt that coaching was also a factor, firing Williams, who won NBA Coach of the Year for the 2021–22 campaign and guided the team to a 194–115 record in his four seasons in the position.
After making it to the NBA Finals in 2021, the Suns lost in the second round of the playoffs for the second consecutive season in 2023.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN said that Ishbia made the choice to terminate Williams.
Prior to the 2019–20 regular season, Williams signed a five-year contract with the Suns, which he was now four seasons into.
Phoenix is the latest team to part ways with their head coach during the 2022–2023 season, following the Milwaukee Bucks (Mike Budenholzer), Toronto Raptors (Nick Nurse), and Houston Rockets (Stephen Silas). This month, Dwane Casey of the Detroit Pistons, who spent five years on the bench, also moved into the front office.
The Detroit Pistons announced on Friday that former head coach Monty Williams had agreed to a $75 million, six-year contract to take over as their coach.
Shams Charania and James Edwards III of The Athletic broke the story on the agreement first.
According to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo! Sports, the deal has team options after the first six-year period and has the potential to be worth over $100 million with incentives. That might continue for up to eight years, as noted by Charania, for two more seasons.
Williams’ new position was announced eighteen days after the Suns fired him. Williams had four seasons with Phoenix, going 194-115 (.628).
Unlike athletes, head coaches’ salaries are not publicly publicized, so it’s difficult to compare Williams’ annual salary to that of its contemporaries. Still, it’s quite close to the top. Furthermore, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, it’s the biggest transaction in NBA history.
After a 17–65 season, Dwane Casey left the team and took a position in the front office; therefore, Detroit needed a new head coach.
Williams was linked to the Milwaukee Bucks as well, but he made it clear that he would seriously consider taking a year off from the Suns because the Suns still owe him roughly $21 million over the course of the following three seasons, according to Charania.
The narrative by Edwards and Charania observes After interviewing almost a dozen applicants, Detroit eventually went back to Williams, who they contacted as soon as Williams was fired. Two weeks later, the Pistons contacted the coach once more, this time presenting him with the team’s schedule and contract details. After that, Williams flew in a private jet that Detroit owner Tom Gores had supplied, and on Sunday, Williams met him in Los Angeles. The following day, Williams was given further parameters to consider before spending some time with his family to decide.
