NBA: Monty Williams reveals his wife, Lisa, had breast cancer during the playoffs

For much of the summer, getting an NBA head coaching job was the last thing Monty Williams cared about.

After being fired by the Phoenix Suns following their postseason elimination, Williams had been discussing his future with a few teams when his family received some troubling news: his wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with breast cancer.

Williams was introduced as the new coach of the Detroit Pistons on Tuesday and he discussed his wife’s health in an effort to help others.

“The reason I bring it up is not to talk about my family, but to put more emphasis on the fact that women need an early detection test. We ran genetic testing and scan after scan after scan and found it early, and that may have saved my wife’s life.

“It can save others.”

Williams’ wife, Lisa, was diagnosed with breast cancer this year after a series of tests

Williams had been in contact with Pistons general manager Troy Weaver, but dropped out of contention for the Detroit job when his wife was diagnosed.

“As we were navigating all that, I talked to Troy and told him man, I couldn’t do it right now, you know, because I have to take care of my family,” he said.

Williams, whose first wife, Ingrid, died in a car accident in 2016, was ready to take at least one season off to spend more time with his wife and kids. He also helps his son Elijah – a major recruiting target for schools across the country – deal with that aspect of his life.

“After we got the good news about Lisa, I was with my kid at a tryout when out of the blue I got a text from Troy,” he said. “I thought everything was completely off the table, but things moved quickly after that.”

Pistons GM Troy Weaver (L), owner Tom Gores (C) & Williams want to bring success to Detroit

Williams flew to Los Angeles to meet owner Tom Gores.

“I had met Troy at my house for about five days and I told him we had a critical responsibility to get this right for our players,” Gores said. “They have literally trusted us and even have their own practices. I wouldn’t say it was a shouting match, but we talked about how important it was to perform for those young men.’

Williams coached New Orleans from 2010-15, going 173-221 and losing twice in the first round of the playoffs.

In Phoenix it was different. Acquiring a team that had gone 19-63 in 2018-2019, Williams led the Suns to a 34-39 record in the pandemic-hit 2019-20 season, then 51-21 and a place in the NBA Finals in the 2020 compressed season. -21 schedule. They lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games.

Phoenix went 64-18 to finish as the top seed in the West in 2021-22. Williams was named Coach of the Year, but the Suns were eliminated in the second round by the Dallas Mavericks.

Williams’ first job in Detroit is to lead the team back to the playoffs, as he did with the Suns

This season they fell to 45-37 and another second round loss, this time to the championship tied Denver Nuggets.

Now he will have to restart that process in Detroit.

The Pistons had the worst record in the league at 17-65, but were unlucky in the lottery and got the fifth pick. They have not had a winning season for seven years and have not won a playoff game since Game 4 of the 2008 Eastern Conference Finals.

Detroit has a promising young squad that includes Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey and Jalen Duren, but Cunningham missed most of last season with a stress fracture.

“You see the talent of this group and you see the size, but what really impresses me is the people,” said Williams. ‘When I talk to them, they look me straight in the eye, which is impressive. When I text them, they get right back to me. There is hunger and longing there.’