NBA News: Suns Part Ways With Former 76ers Coach Monty Williams

With another team eliminated from the 2023 NBA Playoffs, another experienced head coach hits the open market. Not long after the Phoenix Suns came up short against the Los Angeles Lakers, the team parted ways with its head coach, Monty Williams, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Prior to his time with the Suns, Williams had two different stints with the Philadelphia 76ers, once as a player and once as a coach.

In 1994, Williams entered the NBA as the 24th overall pick as he was selected by the New York Knicks. After spending a few seasons with the Knicks, Williams had several stints elsewhere, including San Antonio, Denver, and Orlando.

Williams’s last stop as a player in the NBA was Philadelphia, where he spent 21 games. Following the 2002-2003 NBA season, William called it a career. Two years later, he was back in the league as a coach.

From 2005-2010, Williams was an assistant coach on the Portland Trail Blazers’ staff. In 2010, Williams was hired to coach the New Orleans Hornets. He spent five seasons coaching New Orleans. During that stint, New Orleans lost in the first round twice and missed the playoffs three other seasons.

After parting ways with New Orleans, Williams served as an Associate Head Coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2015-2016 season. After one year in OKC, Williams joined Brett Brown’s staff in Philadelphia before landing himself the Phoenix job in 2019.

During his first season coaching the Suns, Williams’s team achieved a 34-39 record, missing the playoffs. The following year, they finished 51-21 and made a run to the 2021 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Over the last two seasons, the Suns have finished with a 109-55 record. While Phoenix made it to the second round of the postseason each time, they came up short. After losing in the second round for the second-straight season, Williams and the Suns will get a fresh start.

The 2022 Coach of the Year now hits the open market. Considering there are multiple head coaching vacancies in the Eastern Conference currently, there is a chance Williams could land himself in the East and become a direct competitor of the Sixers for years to come.