Orlando Magic coach Stan Van Gundy confirmed this morning that star center Dwight Howard has asked that Van Gundy be fired the day after team CEO Alex Martins told the Orlando Sentinel that the franchise will stick with its longstanding policy of waiting until the end of the season to evaluate the performance of the coach.
According to multiple media reports today in Orlando, where the Magic host the Knicks tonight, Van Gundy acknowledged at the team’s shoot-around that Howard had sought his dismissal.
The New York Times, describing the scene as “surreal,” reported that moments later Howard denied the report and, when told that it had been confirmed, he asked reporters who their source was.
It was, according to multiple media outlets, Van Gundy himself.
All this came in the context of Martins’ saying Wednesday that coaches and players have done an "incredibly commendable job" dealing with the rumors and speculation that have hovered over the team this season.
Asked if he would consider extending the contracts of Van Gundy or GM Otis Smith before the season ends, Martins told the Sentinel, "We're all evaluated at the end of the season. It's consistent. It's happened every year that we've been here.
"I'm evaluated at the end of the season. Our general manager is evaluated at the end of the season. Our coaches are evaluated at the end of the season. And we don't deal with that during the course of a season, and we make our decisions about the future of everyone—and, in particular, the DeVoses make the decisions about the future of everyone—after the season's over."
Both Van Gundy and Smith are under contract through 2012-13.
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