CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Cavaliers fired head coach J.B. Bickerstaff on Thursday, Cavaliers President of Basketball Operations Koby Altman from Cleveland Clinic Courts announced.
Bickerstaff's dismissal came one week after the Cavs were eliminated in five games by the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Cleveland played the final two games of the series without All-Star guard Donovan Mitchell, who played over two months with a left knee injury before he hurt his calf in the closing minutes of Game 4 against the Celtics.
Mitchell has to decide whether to sign a long-term contract extension with the club this summer, and his future may have impacted the team moving on from Bickerstaff, who made incremental progress in each of his four-plus seasons with Cleveland but not enough to keep his job.
Bickerstaff had a 170-159 regular season record this year with a 6-11 postseason record. He helped the team reach the playoffs the last two years as well.
“J.B. is a well-respected NBA coach and an incredible human-being,” said Altman. “Over the past four years, he helped establish a culture that progressively drove players to become the best versions of themselves. Decisions like these are never easy, particularly when you look back at where this franchise rebuild started under his leadership. The NBA is a unique business that sometimes requires aggressive risk-taking to move a franchise forward and ultimately compete for championships. We owe a ton of gratitude for everything J.B. has contributed to the Cavaliers and his engagement in the Cleveland community. We wish J.B., his wife Nikki and their three children the best in their future endeavors.”
Bickerstaff was under a multi-year contract extension since Dec. 2021. He guided the team to their first 50-win season and postseason birth during the 2022-2023 season for the first time since the 2017-18 season.
Bickerstaff took over for John Beilein midway through the 2020 season. He was under contract through 2026.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.