Monty Williams floated as potential JJ Redick-Lakers alternative after 68-loss Pistons season

For a second, it looked as though it was only a matter of time before the Los Angeles Lakers finalized the hiring of JJ Redick as the team’s next head coach. However, there have been some pushback on this purported inevitability. Even Redick himself has broken his silence regarding his reported standing as the frontrunner for the Lakers job. With some uncertainty baked into the mix once again, the Lakers may have to cast a wider net in their search for their Darvin Ham replacement.

One of the names that has popped up as a potential option for the Lakers is Monty Williams, the current head coach of the Detroit Pistons, as reported by NBA insider Marc Stein. Stein wrote that Williams “could potentially surface” as an option for the Lakers if the Pistons do end up jettisoning the veteran head coach after just one season with the team.

The Pistons won only 14 games last season (and were rewarded with the fifth overall pick for their troubles, but that is a topic for another time), and Williams had a bit of trouble reaching the team’s young players. He didn’t see eye-to-eye with Jaden Ivey, for instance. It’s always difficult for a head coach to maintain his job if his team loses 68 games, especially when that coach was brought in to improve the team.

However, Williams is only entering the second season of the six year, $78.5 million deal he signed with the Pistons. Will the Pistons decide to eat the remaining $65 or so million remaining in Williams’ contract, basically admitting that hiring him was a mistake after just one season?

Whatever the case may be on the Pistons’ side of things, Stein still made sure to note that in addition to JJ Redick’s standing as the frontrunner for the Lakers gig, James Borrego is another name to watch out for as someone who has, along with Redick, separated himself from the pack.

There’s no way the Pistons will fire Monty Williams… right? 

The Pistons, after a disastrous 2023-24 season, decided that a change in the team’s brain trust was necessary to prevent them from going through another cataclysmic campaign. General manager Troy Weaver is out after four seasons, and coming in to try and rescue the Pistons is Trajan Langdon, the franchise’s new president of basketball operations.

Langdon appears to have the freedom to assess the team from top to bottom, which means that Monty Williams, despite the job security one would think he has given the amount of money the team has tied up to him, may not be safe.

Williams’ stock was very high when the Pistons brought him in last year; even though the Phoenix Suns have gotten worse under his watch over his last two seasons with the team, he still played a huge part in turning an also-ran franchise into a consistent playoff team. Williams even made the NBA Finals with the Suns in 2021.

The hope was that Williams could make it click with a young Pistons team. But whatever the opposite of making it click was, that’s what happened in Detroit. They lost 28 straight games at one point, setting the record for most consecutive losses in a single season in NBA history.

There were also some suboptimal rotation decisions from Williams that was baffling to Pistons fans. Why did Killian Hayes start 31 games? Why did Jaden Ivey come off the bench in 16 of his 77 games? Did Ausar Thompson really play poorly to the point of a total demotion?

Nonetheless, the Pistons’ putridity isn’t totally on Williams. The roster is lacking in a ton of areas; Cade Cunningham has shown promise, but Jalen Duren is lost on the defensive end. Thompson can’t shoot. The Pistons don’t have a true 3 and D wing on the roster.

In terms of coaching credibility, the Lakers may not be able to hire a more credentialed coach if Monty Williams were to become available. But the smart money is on the Pistons keeping Williams for at least one more year and giving him a fairer shake than the one he had last season.

Lakers’ smoke and mirrors

But amid all the cacophony, it’s looking very likely that JJ Redick will be the one to assume the Lakers’ head coaching job. Redick didn’t even deny the rumors; he merely said that he will address those reports from Shams Charania once the NBA Finals is over.

Redick has a well-documented strong relationship with LeBron James, and Redick has also given everyone a peek into his basketball knowledge with his Mind the Game podcast with James. He may be an unproven coach, but the Lakers are hopeful that he’ll be able to adapt easily to life on the sidelines.