The Toronto Raptors have fired Dwane Casey after the team was swept in the NBA play-offs by the Cleveland Cavaliers for second straight season.
Toronto President Masai Ujiri on Friday said the move was a "very difficult but necessary step."
"As a team, we are constantly trying to grow and improve in order to get to the next level," Ujiri said in a statement released by the team.
Ujiri thanked Casey for what he has done for the organisation, saying Casey was "instrumental in creating the identity and culture of who we are as a team."
The Raptors will hold a news conference Friday afternoon and are expected to provide more details on the decision to part ways with Casey.
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The move comes two days after Casey was honoured as coach of the year by the National Basketball Coaches Association.
Casey, 61, led the Raptors to a franchise-record 59 wins and a top seed in the Eastern Conference for the first time. He posted a 320-238 record and is the franchise's most successful coach.
The Raptors won four Atlantic Division titles and advanced to the play-offs for five consecutive seasons but could not get past Cleveland.
Uriji and Casey met for two hours on Wednesday, after which Uriji said the Raptors were "absolutely disappointed". He had demanded a "culture reset" last spring, leading a greater emphasis on ball movement, depth, and three-point shooting.
But Casey could not solve the Cavaliers and LeBron James puzzle.
Casey insisted on Wednesday that "the gap is closing" between the Raptors and Cavaliers, who ousted Toronto for the third year in a row.
"A lot of folks have run up against Cleveland in the last few years and had the same challenge and it went down the same way," he said. "That's the mountain this organisation has to climb."
