Thunder fire Scott Brooks

Brad Rempel/USA TODAY Sports

There had been rumblings over the last week that the Oklahoma City Thunder were thinking about firing Scott Brooks, and general manager Sam Presti pulled the plug on Brooks Wednesday after seven seasons at the helm.

The firing comes after a rough season that featured a ton of injuries and no playoffs. The issues started before the season when Kevin Durant needed surgery on his foot, and Russell Westbrook soon joined Durant on the shelf after breaking his hand in the second game of the season. Westbrook returned and turned into an MVP candidate, but the reigning MVP had issues with his foot all year and played in just 27 games total.

Serbe Ibaka also dealt with injuries and ultimately needed knee surgery that forced him out of the lineup for the last month or so of the season. Despite Westbrook’s best efforts, the Thunder missed the playoffs because the New Orleans Pelicans beat the San Antonio Spurs on the last day of the year.

While Oklahoma City missed the playoffs for the first time since Brooks was an interim head coach back in 2008-09, Presti’s statement on the firing made sure to point out that missing the playoffs had nothing to do with Brooks’s firing. It certainly would have been ridiculous to fire Brooks based on this season because of what happened with all the injuries, but Presti said a transition to a new voice was best for the franchise moving forward.

Brooks did come under quite a bit of criticism throughout the years, even when the Thunder were having great success. He was criticized for a lack of creativity on offense and an insistence on playing guys like Kendrick Perkins and Derek Fisher despite them being ineffective. These were all valid criticisms for sure, although Brooks certainly got unlucky in terms of key injuries, and not only this year. The past three years in Oklahoma City were derailed by injuries.

Now with Brooks out, the talk turns to who will replace him. Billy Donovan and Kevin Ollie are the two hot names at the moment, and whomever is actually hired will be thrown into a pressure-cooker right away. The expectations will once again be high for a Thunder team that’s still one of the most talented teams in the league when healthy.

Durant should be good to go, and his situation makes next year even more intriguing. The reigning MVP will become a free agent in 2016, so there will be even more pressure on the new coach to be good and for the Thunder to win. Durant said he supports the team’s decision to fire Brooks 100 percent and will surely be consulted about the new hire, but this is still bittersweet for him and it makes next year all the more interesting.