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Phoenix Suns head coach Monty Williams has had his own experience dealing with a close loss while working in the NBA. After the tragic death of retired Los Angeles Lakers star shooting guard Kobe Bryant, who along with 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven others perished in a Jan. 26 helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, Suns players are grappling with their emotions.
Williams, 48, shared his hope that the Suns will provide a grief counselor to help out the organization. “I’ve had my own situation,” Williams told the media on Tuesday ahead of their matchup with the Dallas Mavericks, via The Athletic's Gina Mizell. “… and I can tell you first-hand … to try to handle that kind of incident is really hard if you try to do it alone.”
Monty Williams said after today's shootaround that he hopes the #Suns can provide resources (grief counselor, etc) to help the team: "I’ve had my own situation, and I can tell you first-hand … to try to handle that kind of incident is really hard if you try to do it alone."
— Gina Mizell (@ginamizell) January 28, 2020
Williams lost his wife Ingrid in February 2016 in a fatal car crash in Oklahoma City. Williams, then an assistant coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder, had to step away from the game in order to properly mourn the loss of his spouse, with whom he raised five children. Back then the team gave him all the time he needed to recuperate and grieve, not identical but a similar situation the NBA community is facing right now with players, coaches, and officials overcome with emotion after Bryant's death.
Williams later took a leave of absence from basketball, taking two years off before re-joining the NBA ranks as an assistant coach of the Philadelphia 76ers in 2018-19. The Suns hired Williams in May 2019 to succeed Igor Kokoskov, who was dismissed from Phoenix after one season with the Pacific Division team.
