PHOENIX — Former Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams told reporters on Tuesday that his wife Lisa was diagnosed with breast cancer during the Suns' recent playoff run.
"I had a situation personally in my family that needed attention," Williams said. "My wife found out that she had breast cancer during the playoffs."
Williams married his current wife Lisa Keeth in 2017, after his first wife Ingrid died in 2016 in a car crash.
Williams is typically a private person and doesn't share much about his family. He said he talked with his wife Lisa before deciding to make the diagnosis public, saying that he wanted to influence other women to get tested.
"The reason I bring it up is to not talk about my family but to make more of an emphasis that women need early detection testing. We had genetic testing done and then scan after scan after scan and then we found it early. And that might of saved my wife's life. And it can save others."
Williams did not go into detail about his wife's diagnosis but did say she got good news sooner than they expected, and said that helped him decide to take his new coaching job with the Detroit Pistons.
Williams was brought on as coach for the Suns in May 2019 after serving as the head coach for the New Orleans Hornets/Pelicans from 2010 to 2015. He was dismissed from the team after the Suns were eliminated by Denver in this year's playoffs. The Detroit Pistons introduced Williams as the team's new coach Tuesday afternoon.
