Thanked by the Suns at the end of the season, Monty Williams didn’t take long to find a new base. Indeed, he immediately signed up with the Pistons for a six-year, $78.5 million contract! A contract that can even reach 100 million dollars over eight years and which now makes him the highest paid coach in the entire NBA, with an average of around 13 million dollars per season!
According to ESPN, this deal between Monty Williams and Detroit could have a big impact on the rest of the league. A domino effect is expected because, as a reminder, Monty Williams has never led a franchise to the NBA title, has only one appearance in the Finals (2021) and finds himself above all at the head of a team in reconstruction.
Finding him at the top of the financial hierarchy is therefore an aberration. Of course, we can say that Detroit has largely “overpaid” to bring in Monty Williams, the “ideal” coach in the eyes of the club, who really needs to find an identity and who hopes that the coach will have the same effect in the Michigan than in Arizona.
But it is clear that the best technicians in the league will have Monty Williams’ contract in the back of their minds when negotiating their future contracts.
An exception or a sign of future inflation?
For example, Erik Spoelstra, whose contract with Miami expires in 2024, currently earns around $8.5 million a year. On his track record? Two NBA championship titles and six Finals appearances. He could therefore claim a much higher contract than that of Monty Williams. same for me Steve Kerr, whose contract also ends in a year, in 2024. The Warriors coach currently earns 9.5 million dollars per season. His track record? Four NBA championship titles, and six total Finals appearances.
Top 5 annual salaries of NBA coaches (dollars)
1/ Monty Williams (Pistons): 13.05 million
2/ Gregg Popovich (Spurs) : 13 million
3/ Steve Kerr (Warriors) : 9.5 million
4/ Erik Spoelstra (Heat) : 8.5 million
5/ Rick CarlislePacers : 7.25 million
There remains perhaps a last factor little mentioned in relation to the exorbitant contract of Monty Williams. It is that the next collective agreement between the NBA and the players, which comes into force next season, will be extremely punitive for the overspending teams. Under these conditions, it will be extremely difficult to accumulate the “stars” and to set up a “superteam”, even in the event of an explosion of the salary cap with the new TV agreement.
The salaries of coaches are not limited, and the name of the coach will perhaps be an increasingly important variable in an NBA which tries as much as possible to limit the groupings of superstars. To see if Monty Williams’ salary is an exception, or a sign of future inflation in the league…
