The Denver Nuggets have fired head coach George Karl in a shocking move, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports reports.

Karl won NBA Coach of the Year this year, leading his team to the third-seed in the West.

Denver crashed out against the Golden State Warriors in the first round of the playoffs. But the Warriors played exceptionally well, and the Nuggets were without Danilo Gallinari.

Nuggets player Kenneth Faried on Twitter:

So we lost a GM now a coach what's next!? — Kenneth Faried (@KennethFaried35) June 6, 2013

GM Masai Ujiri left Denver for a monster deal to run the Toronto Raptors.

Denver won 57 games this year in one of the best regular seasons in the history of the franchise.

They have a young nucleus, and appeared set to make another run in 2013-14.

Wojnarowski reports that Karl wanted a contract extension past next year, but management wasn't willing to give it to him.

Woj says, "Denver believes it can attract an elite coach with its roster; simply didn't want to deal with an unhappy Karl in final year of contract."