The Oklahoma City Thunder have fired Scott Brooks, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports has reported.
Thunder GM Sam Presti traveled to California Wednesday morning to meet and deliver the news to Brooks. According to ESPN’s Marc Stein, Billy Donovan is considered the favorite to replace Brooks.
Scott Brooks will now become an immediate candidate for the Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic, two teams who fired their respective coaches during the regular season.
In his seven seasons with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Brooks accumulated 338 wins and 207 loss, a .620 winning percentage. He coached them to one Finals appearance and two Conference Finals appearances while only missing the playoffs twice. Brooks also coached the Thunder to four consecutive division titles, from 2010 to 2014.
After the Thunder failed to make the playoffs this season, many reports believed Brooks was on the hot seat. His coaching abilities had been in question the last couple of seasons due to the Thunder not meeting expectations despite going deep in the playoffs.
However, Presti confirmed that this season’s miserable play had nothing to do with Brooks’ coaching. Rather injuries suffocated the Thunder all season long which ultimately led to their late season downfall. Surely, the Thunder will take their time on hiring a new coach.
“This is an extremely difficult decision on many levels. Scott helped establish the identity of the Thunder and has earned his right place in the history of our organization through his seven years as a valued leader and team member,” Presti said in a statement. “As we all know, this past year we had unique and challenging circumstances and as I have conveyed, not many people could have accomplished what Scott and this team were able to.
“Therefore, it is very important to state that this decision is not a reflection of this past season, but rather an assessment of what we feel is necessary at this point in time in order to continually evolve, progress and sustain.
“We determined that, in order to stimulate progress and put ourselves in the best position next season and as we looked to the future, a transition of this kind was necessary for the program. We move forward with confidence in our foundation and embrace the persistence and responsibility that is required to construct an elite and enduring basketball organization capable of winning an NBA Championship in Oklahoma City,” Presti added.
In other Oklahoma City news, Enes Kanter underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee and will be out for 4-6 weeks, according to Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports.
Kanter was acquired before the trade deadline in the three-team deal that also landed D.J. Augustin, Steve Novak, and Kyle Singler for OKC. He averaged a double-double of 18.7 points and 11.0 rebounds on 56.6 percent shooting in a Thunder uniform.
The Turkish big man will become a restricted free agent this summer, but he enjoyed his time with the Thunder and is likely to return.