Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard told TMZ he had no role in Stan Van Gundy's firing.
"I hate anyone to lose their job," Howard told TMZ in California, where he is recovering from his injury. "Me and Stan, we had our ups and downs. But for the most part we had one goal - to win a championship in Orlando, but we fell short."
Van Gundy was fired by the Magic on Monday with Magic CEO Alex Martins claiming it was one of the toughest decisions he had to make. Van Gundy said in April that Howard had asked the management to fire Van Gundy, something that Howard immediately denied. Martins also said Howard had no role to play in the dismissal and never asked him to fire Van Gundy.
"I'm glad (Martins) confirmed I had nothing to do with it," he told TMZ.
The Magic also let go of general manager Otis Smith, who also had a difficult relationship with Howard.
Jeff Van Gundy, Stan's brother, lashed out at the decision; talking to ESPN Radio, Van Gundy said: "He (Martins) knows nothing about basketball. Listen, all you have done in the last 25 years is release press releases and run the business side. You don't know if a ball is blown up or stuffed.
"He doesn't know one thing about basketball. So please hold off on your comments," Van Gundy, also an ESPN analyst, said.
Van Gundy also rubbished comments on Howard not playing a role in his brother's dismissal.
"To try to make everyone believe that Dwight Howard did not have a part in this is absurd.
"Just say, 'we fired this guy because we feel this is our best chance to keep Dwight Howard. Dwight Howard and I decided to fire him'. To do anything else is playing a game of semantics."
