The Detroit Pistons are a hot mess with cap space, so they are going to be mentioned in just about every trade rumor this summer.
But for now, the focus is on the front office and coaching staff, as the Pistons are in the process of hiring a new president of basketball operations who could decide to clean house.
Whether that will include head coach Monty Williams is anyone’s guess, as he was a disappointment in year one but has a record of success and is also owed a ton of money that owner Tom Gores may not want to eat.
So, the Pistons may spend their offseason looking for a new head coach, just like last year. Another team looking for a new leader is the LA Lakers, who fired head coach Darvin Ham and have been attached to former players like JJ Redick as well as several other experienced coaches to replace him.
The Lakers would like to steal a coach like Tyronn Lue or Jason Kidd, but neither are likely to be available, which led one ESPN pundit to turn to the possibility of Monty Williams in LA.
Brian Windhorst has wild idea for trade between Pistons and Lakers
Brian Windhorst of ESPN is famous for his conspiratorial speculation and even became a meme:
The Brian Windhorst meme might be the best thing I’ve seen on Twitter lmao pic.twitter.com/d5A2hbkq2G
— Blake Saville (@THEBlakeSaville) July 4, 2022
But the thing is, he ended up being right about trades for Utah and Brooklyn and about the Kevin Durant situation, so you can’t completely rule out his speculation, no matter how silly it might seem.
His most recent suggestion is that the Pistons and Lakers could swap coaches, saying “I could see Monty Williams and Darvin Ham switching jobs,” in a recent segment about the Lakers’ coaching search.
Windhorst was just spit balling about coaches who currently have jobs who might be a fit for the Lakers, so this wasn’t based on any intel or source. He added that there were a multitude of factors that would stop this from happening.
It does make some sense, as Williams would be better suited coaching a team with veterans that is ready to win, and Darvin Ham might be more comfortable coaching his old team in his home state where he once won an NBA championship.
This is highly unlikely to happen of course, as the Pistons would first have to either fire or come to a buyout with Williams and the Lakers would have to have interest, which seems unlikely, as LeBron James is more or less going to be making this hire and he will likely lean towards one of his buddies, giving Redick the clear advantage.
Windhorst knows how to stir the pot, and in this case, I am not sure you’d get much resistance from Pistons fans, who turned on Monty Williams months ago and may enjoy a former player and Detroit champion leading the team.
But unlike some of his other rumors, I don’t expect this one to pan out or get anywhere close.