Monty Williams Waited to Take Pistons HC Job Due to Wife's Breast Cancer Diagnosis

The Pistons reached out to Monty Williams right after he was fired as head coach of the Phoenix Suns to see if he would be interested in their head coaching job, but it took the 51-year-old some time to decide whether he wanted to take Detroit's vacancy.

Williams said Tuesday during his introductory press conference that he initially waited to take the Pistons head coaching job due to his wife's recent breast cancer diagnosis.

Williams' wife was diagnosed with breast cancer during the 2023 NBA playoffs, where Williams coached the Suns to a Western Conference semifinals loss to the Denver Nuggets.

"My wife found out that she had breast cancer during the playoffs, and the reason that I bring it up is to not talk about my family, but to make it more of an emphasis that women need early detection. ... We found it early, and that may have saved my wife's life, and it can save others."

The Pistons finalized an agreement with Williams to make him their next head coach on June 2. ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported the deal was worth $78.5 million over six seasons.

ESPN's Brian Windhorst then reported on his Hoop Collective podcast (44:32 mark) on June 3 that there had been belief around the NBA that he was going to take a year off from coaching.

"I mean, the Suns were planning on paying him next year," Windhorst said. "All of these other teams knew that Monty was going to take care of his family and be with his family and take the year off.

"And it got to be so much money that the 'taking care of your family' inversed because it was like, 'Well, wait a minute, I want to do what's best for my family here, but maybe what's best for my family is taking this freaking amazing offer.'"

Williams spent the last four seasons as head coach of the Suns, leading the franchise to the NBA Finals in 2021. He was fired following the 2023 playoffs after Phoenix suffered a disappointing exit in the postseason for the second straight year.

Now in Detroit, Williams will be tasked with leading a young group that includes Cade Cunningham, Killian Hayes, Jaden Ivey, James Wiseman and Jalen Duren to the postseason.

The Pistons haven't made the playoffs since the 2018-19 campaign and have been one of the NBA's more disappointing teams for more than a decade.