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When Monty Williams took over as head coach of the Phoenix Suns, they were in the middle of a decade-long lottery streak. Almost overnight, he managed to turn them into one of the NBA’s very best teams. His debut season ended with an undefeated run in the Orlando bubble. He followed that up with a trip to the NBA Finals in 2021, and last season, he won Coach of the year as his Suns won 64 games before losing in the second round to the Dallas Mavericks. In three years on the job, he’s done everything short of winning a championship. And now, the Suns are recognizing that.
On Saturday, Williams agreed to a long-term contract extension to remain in Phoenix, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. Williams had initially signed a five-year deal to join the Suns, rare among new hires, and therefore had two years left. This new deal will add several to that arrangement and will presumably make him one of the NBA’s highest-paid coaches.
With that bit of business finished, all of Phoenix’s most important figures are locked in fore the foreseeable future. Chris Paul signed an extension last offseason, and Mikal Bridges soon followed. Devin Booker signed a long-term deal this offseason, and while negotiations were at times acrimonious, DeAndre Ayton eventually wound up back in Phoenix after the Suns matched an offer sheet given to him by the Indiana Pacers.
Unless a Kevin Durant trade materializes in the coming months, the Suns will be running it back with last season’s core in an attempt to get over the disappointment of the Dallas series and make it back to the NBA Finals. There’s no coach they’d rather have leading them there than Williams, and now he has the contract to prove it.
