Raptors’ Dwane Casey to coach Team LeBron at NBA all star game

Casey and his staff earned the opportunity to coach in the All-Star Game for the first time with Sunday’s 123-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers. (Photo by Flickr editor David Herrera/dherrera_96 – Cropped from https://www.flickr.com/photos/dph1110/3588474070/in/photostream/, CC BY 2.0)

Toronto Raptors head coach Dwane Casey and his staff will coach Team LeBron in the 2018 NBA All-Star Game.

Casey and his staff earned the opportunity to coach in the All-Star Game for the first time with Sunday’s 123-111 victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

“It’s an honour, but mainly for the organization,” Casey said post-game. “That’s what it’s about, it’s for the organization.”

With the win, the Raptors (33-15) clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference through games played on Feb. 4 among the 14 conference teams with a head coach eligible for the All-Star Game. Boston Celtics head coach Brad Stevens was ineligible because he coached the East in last year’s event.

“What we’re trying to do here in Toronto (is) something special to talk about for a weekend. And to put a light on our program and see what we’re doing is the most important thing,” said Casey.

“Again, it’s also for the players, they’ve done something to this point, we’re only at the halfway point, we still got a lot of basketball to be played and we’re not going to lose our eye of our goal going forward to the end of the season, but it’s an honour for the program.”

Casey will coach against Toronto’s two all-star selections, DeMar DeRozan and Kyle Lowry, who were both drafted to Team Stephen for the All-Star Game set for Feb. 18 in Los Angeles.

Under a new format for 2018, each All-Star Game coach will lead the team that includes the captain from the same conference. Casey and his staff will coach the team that features the Cleveland Cavaliers’ LeBron James as captain.

Houston Rockets head coach Mike D’Antoni and his staff will coach Team Stephen, captained by the Golden State Warriors’ Stephen Curry.

Casey is Toronto’s longest-tenured and winningest coach (294-230). He guided the Raptors to the playoffs in each of the previous four seasons — the four winningest seasons in franchise history.

Casey has a career coaching record of 347-299 over seven seasons with the Raptors and two seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves.