PORTLAND, Oregon (Reuters) - The Portland Trail Blazers, coming off a first round exit in the playoffs, confirmed after the NBA Draft that they fired general manager Kevin Pritchard.
Pritchard, 42, had been Portland's general manager since 2007. He was hired in 2004 as the team's director of player personnel and served as the team's interim coach for the final 27 games of the 2005 season.
"Parting ways with a popular general manager is not something we take lightly. In the end, we decided to make a change," Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen said on the team's website. (www.nba.com/blazers).
The team did not offer a specific reason for Pritchard's firing, which some media reports said was made official about an hour before Pritchard directed the team through Thursday's NBA Draft.
(Writing by Gene Cherry in Raleigh, North Carolina; Editing by Frank Pingue)
