Kevin Durant 'shocked' Knicks fired Fisher: 'I thought he was doing a great job'

It's hard to say how much of a player the New York Knicks will be when Kevin Durant becomes an unrestricted free agent this summer, but they certainly didn't do themselves any favors by firing a man the four-time scoring champion considers a close friend.

The Knicks relieved former head coach Derek Fisher - who teamed with Durant on the Oklahoma City Thunder for three seasons - of his duties earlier this week as the team ranked near the bottom of the Eastern Conference with a 23-31 record.

"I was shocked," Durant said Friday in Toronto during All-Star Media Day, according to the New York Post's Marc Berman. "I thought he was doing a great job. Melo missed (seven) games. It's tough losing your best player. I thought he was doing a great job, man."

Fisher's dismissal came on the heels of a five-game losing streak and a stretch of nine losses in 10 games for New York. He was also involved in an off-court incident with Matt Barnes of the Memphis Grizzlies concerning Barnes' estranged wife.

The Knicks finished the 2014-15 campaign at 17-65 with Fisher at the helm, but had taken considerable strides in the right direction this season with an influx of talent and the surprise play of rookie Kristaps Porzingis.

"This league, it don’t matter what your record is nowadays," Durant said. "You still get fired. I don't know who's doing it deep in the organization internally. Record doesn't matter anymore if you're a coach. Fish did a great job. It's tough to turn an organization around in a year-and-a-half. He did the best he could do. I'm sure he walked out with a lot of peace."

Durant made sure to contact Fisher once his firing was made public.

"I talked to Fish,’" Durant said. "I just told him I love him, man. He knows the business. People go through all the time. I told him he did a great job and know he can walk away from that job at peace, knowing he gave 110 percent."

New York enters the All-Star break with a 23-32 record, five games back of the Charlotte Hornets for the final playoff spot in the East.