Detroit Pistons and Monty Williams part ways after one season

The Detroit Pistons will absorb the remaining $65 million on Monty Williams’ contract as new GM Trajan Langdon cleans house.

When the Detroit Pistons hired Trajan Langdon as general manager last month, many felt coach Monty Williams might be out the door. And after multiple meetings between Langdon and Williams regarding the future of the franchise, Williams was ultimately dismissed on Wednesday morning.

Locked On Pistons host Ku Khahil broke down every angle of this decision, including the simple explanation for why it happened:

“The very easy answer is [that] this past season was an absolute disaster,” Khahil said. “This situation was terrible because of Monty Williams. The losing streak, the worst season in Pistons history, the decision to play Killian Hayes over Jaden Ivey for long stretches of the season, the consistent lying to the beat writers and the fan base about shrinking the rotation…I’ll come out and say it I don’t know how many fans there [are] of Monty Williams at this point.”

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Williams was lured to Detroit with a six-year, $78 million dollar contract after he was fired by the Phoenix Suns. Williams had planned to sit out the year but the large offer and his strong relationship with now-fired GM Troy Weaver sealed the deal.

Tasked with rebuilding a struggling franchise, Williams instead led the Pistons to a 14-68 record – the worst in the league and worst in franchise history – while the team endured a 28 game losing streak, which tied an NBA record.

Detroit is now 94-290 (.245) over the past five seasons, and the young roster will be led by someone new in 2024-25. Langdon is not in a spot to conduct a lengthy coaching search, with the NBA draft one week away and free agency starting shortly after that, but the team did hire Fred Vinson from the New Orleans Pelicans – a highly regarded assistant coach who has a history with Langdon – so perhaps he can step into a bigger role for the time being.

Williams reached the finals as Phoenix’s head coach in 2021-22, and went 194-115 (.628) with the franchise in four seasons. He also went 173-221 (.439) in five seasons with the Pelicans, reaching the playoffs once.

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