NBA Twitter was somewhat surprised by the Raptors announcing the firing of Dwane Casey, two days after his peers voted him Coach of the Year.
The news wasn't a total shock, because just a few days ago it was reported Toronto was "strongly leaning towards making a coaching change."
Casey is also a strong candidate to win the official Coach of the Year award, which will be presented on June 25.
Following the news, several people in the NBA community reacted to the news. We'll break it down into three groups: current/former players and members of the media.
Reaction to Dwane Casey being fired
Players
— Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) May 11, 2018
Cold world
— Dorell Wright (@DWRIGHTWAY1) May 11, 2018
Scapegoat. Agree with Stephen A. on that one. Casey doesn’t deserve it.
— Patrick Patterson (@pdpatt) May 11, 2018
Wow 👀👀
— Bismack Biyombo (@bismackbiyombo) May 11, 2018
🤔🤷🏾♂️ https://t.co/Tr757oXpqx
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) May 11, 2018
Firing #DwayneCasey is the most disrespectful move you could ever send to LeBron James, as if Toronto ever had the personel to guard him🤔
— Ryan Hollins (@TheRyanHollins) May 11, 2018
Horrible basketball move you need to reassess your front office moves‼️ #NBAPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/j5HAOWFaot
WOW WOW WOW oh WOOOOOWWWWWW. Well I hope the @Raptors are bringing in the ghost of Red Auerbach. Or maybe Pat Riley, Phil Jackson.. Masai Ujiri is as good as they come, he must be playing chess with us right now..
— Reggie Miller (@ReggieMillerTNT) May 11, 2018
Media
Coaches of the Year:
— Rob Perez (@World_Wide_Wob) May 11, 2018
Avery Johnson (05-06), gone ‘08
Sam Mitchell (06-07), gone ‘08
Byron Scott (07-08), gone ‘09
Mike Brown (08-09), gone ‘10
George Karl (12-13), gone ‘13
NBA’s Madden Curse https://t.co/IYeHGVMWBC
So Dwane Casey is going to be unemployed when he most likely receives his Coach of the Year award in June. This tops George Karl - whom Casey once worked for in Seattle - getting dumped in 2013 after winning COY in Denver. At least Karl got the trophy & the press conference...
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) May 11, 2018
Dwane Casey is a truly admirable man, and was the most successful coach in Raptors history, by a lot. He had flaws: he worked to improve them. Always enjoyed dealing with him; sorry to see him go.
— Bruce Arthur (@bruce_arthur) May 11, 2018
Like, Dwane Casey just went on a 5-year run equivalent to anything Tom Thibodeau has ever done (if not more impressive given the talent Thibs had on those Bulls teams). No one talks about him in those terms. What Casey did in TOR should be celebrated.
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) May 11, 2018
Raptors announce firing of Dwane Casey. A damn shame after such an incredible regular season. He won’t be out of work long if he chooses to jump back in.
— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) May 11, 2018
Raptors announce firing of coach Dwane Casey. A fantastic run in Toronto, and a wonderful regular season. But in the end, LeBron himself may as well have written this press release.
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) May 11, 2018