A day after their elimination in the first round of the playoffs, the Portland Trail Blazers announced on Friday the departure of Terry Stotts as the team’s coach after nine seasons.
In a statement, Blazers sports president Neil Olshey said Stotts’ relief was decided “by mutual agreement.”
“I have the utmost respect for Terry and for what he has accomplished in the past nine seasons,” Olshey said. “It has been a difficult decision both personally and professionally, but the best thing for the franchise is to take another direction.”
The team that leads on the court Damian Lillard suffered on Thursday, against the Denver Nuggets (4-2), their fourth elimination in the first round of the NBA playoffs in the last five years.
The 63-year-old Stotts leaves Portland with the second-best winning record in franchise history, with 402 wins and 318 losses, though he only reached the conference finals once, losing to the Golden State Warriors in 2019.
The painful elimination against Denver, a team plagued with casualties like Jamal Murray’s, anticipated important changes in Portland and surrounded the future of Lillard, who has had no other coach than Stotts in the NBA.
According to the ESPN network, among the candidates to replace the coach are Chauncey Billups, assistant of the Clippers; Nets auxiliary Mike D’Antoni and current television commentator Jeff van Gundy. (GG) (AFP)