Toronto Raptors President of Basketball Operations, Masai Ujiri announces that the organization has parted ways with Coach Dwane Casey.

Masai Ujiri takes the first few moments of the press conference to truly thanks Coach Dwane Casey for his 7 years of service with the Toronto Raptors. They had only worked together for of those seven years, but it was evident that Masai Ujiri truly valued their relationship. If you take a close look at his tone, it’s easy to see that these major decisions are never easy.

An emotional Ujiri stated the following: “In some ways, I think the time has come, [you know sometimes] these things come to an end. Relationships come to an end”…“We’ll figure out a way to move on with a new voice, new everything in terms of that position.” Clearly this parting of ways will leave a massive void in both the lives of Casey and Ujiri. Masai called the dismissal of Coach Casey “the hardest thing he’s ever done in his life”, adding that he wasn’t sure if he could honestly say he’d work with a better person in his life.

Masai Ujiri mentioned that in terms of finding a replacement, the Raptors, will be looking at their current assistants as well as certain external candidates. The organization does not want to rule anyone out when it comes to this and Masai Ujiri truly enforced that during the press conference.

In his tenure with the Toronto Raptors, Coach Dwane Casey lead the team to a 373-307 record. He guided them to three consecutive seasons with 50-plus wins, these followed seasons with nearly 50 wins as well. He was undoubtably a coach that was able to have a visible impact on the team and will certainly go down as one of the best coaches in franchise history. Lest we forget, he was just bestowed with the NBA Coach of the Year awards as well. Coach Casey will land on his feet with another organization. However, it will be exciting to see if the Raptors will hiring from within the organization or look to bring in an external candidate.

Video courtesy of Toronto Raptors.