Dwane Casey Won't Return as Pistons HC for 2023-24; Will Move to Front Office

The Detroit Pistons will be searching for a new head coach this offseason.

Dwane Casey announced Sunday that he will be moving to the front office, ending his tenure as head coach after five seasons.

"This is my last game," Casey said. "I'm moving to the front office."

Detroit finished last in the Central Division for the third straight year with a 17-65 record this season.

Former Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka will be among the candidates to replace Casey as head coach, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski:

Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports reported on April 7 that several people within the Pistons organization were "preparing for Casey to no longer hold his head coaching post next season," though he noted that there was "the potential for Casey to step into a front office advisory role." A source "insisted" to Fischer at the time that Casey would "have the choice of remaining on the bench or stepping into a different role within the team's basketball operations."

The 65-year-old was hired by Detroit in 2018 after spending seven seasons as head coach of the Toronto Raptors, leading the team to five straight playoff appearances and being named 2018 NBA Coach of the Year before his firing. Casey took over a rebuilding project when he joined the Pistons bench, but he still managed to lead the team to a postseason berth in his first year as head coach.

Unfortunately, Detroit was unable to sustain that success amid its ongoing rebuild. The team's young roster has been unable to keep up with the rest of the league for quite some time now, and it's resulted in a lengthy run of misfortune. In Casey's five seasons, the Pistons had an overall record of 121-263.

Detroit's next head coach will be taking over a group that includes some promising youngsters such as Jaden Ivey, Killian Hayes, Jalen Duren and James Wiseman. However, the team's most important piece is 2021 No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, who will be making his way back from a broken leg that ended his 2022-23 season after just 12 games.

The Pistons are surely hoping the next person for the job is able to lead the franchise out of its rebuild and back to playoff contention.