After finishing the 2022-23 regular season with the worst record in the NBA at 17-65, the Detroit Pistons front office decided it was time for a coaching change. They fired Dwane Casey — who spent the last five seasons as the head coach of the Pistons and coached the franchise to a playoff appearance in the 2018-19 campaign — and moved him to a front-office position.

The Pistons are now in the market for a new head coach, and a recent rumor indicates that they threw a “big-money” offer to a recently fired coach only for that coach to deny the offer, per a recent article from Marc Stein:

“League sources say that the Pistons, even after they failed to win the Victor Wembanyama Sweepstakes in the draft lottery, went through with their intent to make a big-money offer to Williams in hopes that the former Suns coach could be lured straight into a new job. It appears that plan, which we revealed in the enclosed story from inside the Drawing Room at the draft lottery in Chicago last week, was unsuccessful. Williams has three years remaining on his Suns deal valued in excess of $20 million.”

Monty Williams, 51, coached the Phoenix Suns for the last four years. His most successful season with the team came in the 2020-21 season when he coached the Suns to an NBA Finals berth before they bowed out to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games.

The Detroit Pistons are a group with a bright future, but it's understandable why Williams doesn't want to coach them. After all, the Pistons are far away from title contention at this juncture.