Monty Williams eyeing reunion with intriguing free agent as Pistons tenure begins

Monty Williams is apparently wasting no time in his preparation for free agency as the new Detroit Pistons head coach. While Williams was announced officially as the team's next head coach roughly two weeks ago, the former Phoenix Suns leader is ready to pull off his next turnaround job, and that may begin by targeting ex-Suns and current Brooklyn Nets forward Cam Johnson.

Johnson, who was traded to the Nets as part of the Kevin Durant deal, is set to become a free agent this offseason, and as Marc Stein revealed in The Stein Line, he has a "huge new fan in Motown."

"League sources say Cam Johnson is prominent (and rising) on Detroit's list of free agent targets. Brooklyn's restricted free agent swingman naturally has a huge new fan in Motown after the Pistons' hiring of Monty Williams as coach — Johnson’s former coach in Phoenix," Stein detailed.

The kicker here is that Johnson is a restricted free agent, which would allow Brooklyn to match any offer another team presents to the 27-year-old. And as Stein also reported, the Nets are "quietly expressing confidence that they have all but convinced Johnson to re-sign." More importantly, he also points out that the team plans to match any offer required to keep him in Brooklyn.

Obviously, that last part could likely put a huge damper on the idea of Johnson heading to Detroit and reuniting with Williams. While crazier things have happened during NBA free agency, this does seem to be a long shot when factoring in all the details of the situation.

Cam Johnson's play under Williams with Suns

There's no question that Williams was able to play a role in helping Johnson make major strides forward in his young career, as the duo was together for three full seasons in Phoenix and part of a fourth season. During that span, Johnson's play progressively improved over each full season as a member of the Suns.

After averaging 8.8 and 9.6 points, respectively, in his first two seasons with the team while playing just 22 and 24 minutes per game, Johnson took a big step forward during year three in 2021-22. He averaged 12.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and shot 46 percent from the field and 42.5 percent from 3-point range while seeing 26.2 minutes per game of playing time.

Johnson's scoring improved even more over the 17 games he played with the Suns last season prior to the trade, logging an average of 25.2 minutes but posting marks of 13.9 points on 47.4 percent shooting and a stellar 45.5 percent from beyond the arc.

The continued growth of Johnson as a player continued with the Nets, where he averaged a career-best 16.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.5 steals over 25 games. He also saw the most playing time of his career, averaging 30.8 minutes per game and shooting 46.8 percent from the field. His 3-point average did drop slightly to a more modest 37.2 percent, although that came with the most attempts from beyond the arc of his career, as the former North Carolina Tar Heel put up nearly six shots from outside per game.