Wizards part ways with Brooks after contract expires

The Washington Wizards have reached a mutual agreement to part ways with head coach Scott Brooks following the team's first-round playoff exit, NBC Sports Washington has confirmed. The news was first reported by ESPN.

Brooks, 55, leaves the Wizards after coaching them for five seasons. He was hired in the summer of 2016 with a five-year deal worth $35 million. That contract was set to expire this month.

Brooks found early success with the Wizards, leading them to 49 wins in his first season, their best regular-season record since 1979. They made the second round of the playoffs and then the first round in his second season.

Brooks was able to lead them back to the playoffs in his final season, for the third time in five years. But it was also the third consecutive losing season, as they finished 34-38. The Wizards then fell in five games to the Sixers in the first round.

Though Brooks attempted to make adjustments against the Sixers, inserting Davis Bertans and Daniel Gafford into Washington's starting lineup during the series, his team had the weaker roster and was unable to contain Joel Embiid, who averaged 29.3 points and shot 67.4 percent from the floor over the first three games. The Wizards' only win of the series came in Game 4, when Embiid exited in the first quarter with a right knee injury later diagnosed as a small lateral meniscus tear.

Brooks' tenure was defined in part by injuries to key players, most notably All-Star point guard John Wall, whom the team traded to the Houston Rockets in December. Injuries took their toll in the 2020-21 season, with the team bottoming out at 15 games under .500 in early April.

Brooks leaves the Wizards with a 183-207 (.469) regular-season record with one playoff series win. That fell far short of his 338-207 (.620) mark with the Oklahoma City Thunder in his previous head coaching job. He finished fifth in Wizards/Bullets franchise history in head coaching wins.