Raptors fire coach Dwane Casey after franchise-best season

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Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey reacts in the third quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Quicken Loans Arena.(Photo: David Richard, USA TODAY Sports)

A franchise-record 59 victories wasn’t good enough for Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey, not after getting swept by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the Eastern Conference semifinals.

Casey, who was just named coach of the year by his peers in the National Basketball Coaches Association, is the franchise’s all-time winningest coach with a 320-238 regular-season record. He led the team to the playoffs five times, including a spot in the 2016 Eastern Conference finals. But Casey’s inability to get Toronto past Cleveland – and LeBron James – and to the NBA Finals was his undoing with Raptors president Masai Ujiri.

In a statement, Ujiri said:

“After careful consideration, I have decided this is a very difficult but necessary step the franchise must take. As a team, we are constantly trying to grow and improve in order to get to the next level. We celebrate everything Dwane has done for the organization, we thank him, and we wish him nothing but the best in future. He was instrumental in creating the identity and culture of who we are as a team, and we are so proud of that.”

Casey was the longest-tenured coach in Raptors history. 

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