Dwane Casey was just named Coach of the Year by the other NBA head coaches, and he led the Toronto Raptors to their best regular season in franchise history, but even that was not enough to save his job.

“After careful consideration, I have decided this is a very difficult but necessary step the franchise must take. As a team, we are constantly trying to grow and improve in order to get to the next level,” Masai Ujiri said via the Raptors website. “We celebrate everything Dwane has done for the organization, we thank him, and we wish him nothing but the best in future. He was instrumental in creating the identity and culture of who we are as a team, and we are so proud of that.”

His failures in getting past the Cleveland Cavaliers played a big part in him being let go, but according to Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today Sports, Casey might have actually forced Ujiri's hand in severing ties with him.

According to Zillgitt, Casey asked for a contract extension, but instead of getting the contract extension he was shown the door instead.

The big question for the Raptors is where do they go from here. Was it Casey that was holding back the Raptors, or has that core group of players maxed it's potential out and they need to trade one of them to try and win with a different combination?

Whatever way Ujiri decides to go with the roster will also have an effect on who they hire for their next head coach.