EL SEGUNDO — Twelve hours after the world learned Frank Vogel would be fired, the Lakers let him know.

The team announced Monday morning that Vogel’s tenure has ended after three seasons, an awkward conclusion to a bungled dismissal. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski tweeted that Vogel had coached his last game almost as soon as the buzzer sounded after the Lakers’ overtime win in Denver, leading to Vogel saying “I haven’t been told (expletive)” in his post-game press conference before the flight back to L.A.

Vogel finishes his Lakers tenure with a 127-98 record in the regular season, an 18-9 playoff record and the 2020 NBA championship. The Lakers sent out a tweet of Vogel holding the Larry O’Brien Trophy, with the caption, “Thank you, Coach.”

“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Frank both on and off the court,” said Rob Pelinka, the Lakers Vice President of Basketball Operations and General Manager, in a statement. “Frank is a great coach and a good man. We will forever be grateful to him for his work in guiding us to the 2019-20 NBA championship. This is an incredibly difficult decision to make, but one we feel is necessary at this point. All of us here wish Frank and his wonderful family all the best for the future.”

LeBron James spoke to reporters Monday morning as Vogel’s status remained unconfirmed. He said he had not been told that Vogel had been fired: “I’ve seen the reports just like everybody else.”

While James declined to cast judgment on how Vogel was dismissed – “When decisions is made, you’re never gonna make everyone happy,” he said – he did say that Vogel had earned his respect over their three seasons together.

“I respect Frank as a coach, as a man and our partnership that we’ve had over past few years here has been nothing but just candid, great conversations,” James said. “He’s a guy who gives everything to the game, prepared us every single night, as well as his coaching staff. I give those guys a lot of credit too.”

Pelinka was scheduled to meet with the media at noon Monday.

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