Mike D'Antoni calls Raptors firing Dwane Casey ‘kind of laughable’

Rockets coach Mike D'Antoni doesn’t think Dwane Casey deserved to be fired.

Casey, who coached in Toronto for seven seasons, led the Raptors to a franchise-record 59 wins in 2017-18 and the team earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs. But, after topping the Wizards in six games in their opening series, the Raptors were non-competitive in the second round, falling to Cleveland in a sweep.

Toronto dismissed Casey, who posted a 320-238 record and made five playoff appearances during his time with the Raptors, on Friday.

D'Antoni addressed Casey’s firing when he spoke with reporters this week.

"I'm not criticizing anyone, everybody has their reasons for making decisions,” D'Antoni said. “It's just the nature of the business, but it's kind of laughable."

D'Antoni said he thinks Casey, who won the 2017-18 NBCA Coach of the Year Award, will “find another spot” in the NBA.

“I think all coaches are numb to that. You get Coach of the Year. You have the best (regular season) the franchise has ever had. You get fired. It's like really?” D'Antoni said. “He’s classy and good and he's one of the better coaches in the league.”

The Rockets will face the Warriors in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals on Monday at 9 p.m. ET.