Just over a year ago, the Detroit Pistons made Monty Williams the highest-paid coach in the NBA of all time up to that point when they gave him a six-year, $78.5 million contract. Monty had been fired from the Phoenix Suns a month earlier, but the Pistons saw how he led the Suns to the 2021 NBA Finals and earned the 2022 Coach of the Year award and thought he would be the perfect guy to lead their rebuilding process and return Detroit to basketball glory.
It turned out to be perhaps the worst coach signing in league history, and now he's been fired after one season.
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Last season, the Pistons finished with a 14-68 record, the worst in the NBA. They lost an NBA-record 28 straight games in a row. That record tied with "The Process" Philadelphia 76ers, who lost 28 consecutive games across the 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons.
Williams still has $65 million remaining on his contract. If he doesn't sign with another team, he'll receive all of that money. That means Williams will get $78.5 million for one year of work. He'll finish his Pistons tenure with 14 wins. That works out to $5.6 million per victory, which is an incredible heist.
ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the decision to fire Williams came directly from owner Tom Gores. To be fair, Gores is a billionaire, so $78.5 million might seem like a drop in the bucket to him. Still, this payday for Williams is wild.
It sounds like a fall from grace, but Williams didn't even want the Detroit job, initially turning down the team's offer. The Pistons kept putting more money in front of him, and he finally gave in. $78.5 million to spend about a year doing a job you don't want? Most of us would take that deal in a heartbeat.
Amazingly, this is not Monty's only major payout. When he left the Phoenix Suns he received a $20 million buyout paid over three years. So, in essence, Monty Williams will earn $85 million to NOT coach for two NBA teams. How do I get that kind of life?
