According to Yahoo! Sports’ Jake Fischer, there has been speculation among NBA front offices regarding the possibility of the Detroit Pistons shaking up their staff.
“For now, at the bottom of the standings, there has been ongoing speculation among rival front offices about a potential change atop Detroit’s organizational chart following the Pistons’ strugglesome campaign,” Fischer wrote. “At this juncture, according to one source with knowledge of the situation, there is no expectation that Williams would be open to any buyout of his six-year, $78.5 million contract.”
Williams has an impressive coaching resume in the NBA. He coached the Phoenix Suns and New Orleans Pelicans to playoff appearances in the past.
Notably, he helped lead the Suns to an NBA Finals appearance in 2021. Phoenix held a 2-0 lead in the championship series at one point but was eliminated by Giannis Antetokounmpo and the Milwaukee Bucks in six games after losing the final four contests of the series.
But Williams’ previous coaching success in the pros hasn’t translated into many wins during his first season as the Pistons’ head coach. At 13-63, Detroit owns the worst record of any team in the NBA with six games left in its regular season.
Granted, the Pistons don’t own the league’s worst record by a huge margin, considering they trail the Washington Wizards by just a game and a half for the No. 14 seed in the Eastern Conference.
One of the lone bright spots in what has been a season of disappointment for the Pistons has been the play of guard Cade Cunningham, who has managed to stay relatively healthy in his third NBA season after playing just 12 games in the 2022-23 campaign.
Across 62 games played with Detroit so far this season, the 22-year-old is averaging career-highs in points (22.7) and assists (7.5) per contest while also averaging 4.3 rebounds and 0.9 steals per game. He’s shooting 44.9 percent from the field and 35.5 percent from deep.
In Cunningham’s most recent game, he put together one of his better scoring displays of the season against the Memphis Grizzlies on April 1, as he totaled 36 points on 13-of-22 shooting from the floor while knocking down all but one of his four shots from 3-point range.
While Williams isn’t solely to blame for the Pistons’ unsuccessful 2023-24 regular season, he seemingly deserve a share of the blame, and perhaps Detroit should consider hiring a new head coach in the offseason.
