How did Orlando Magic players react to Scott Skiles’ resignation?

Much like the public and the Orlando Magic itself, players were surprised by Scott Skiles’ sudden resignation Thursday and expressed some gratitude online.

Thursday morning was a shocking day for everyone in the Orlando Magic organization.

There was no public indication — maybe not even private indication — that Scott Skiles was about to abruptly resign. As Magic general manager Rob Hennigan met the media Thursday, he to expressed his surprise that this is where the franchise was headed.

The facts of what happened and what led to Skiles’ decision are still very much coming out and still up for dispute.

What is clear is the Magic and Skiles had some sort of after-season retreat. Hennigan and CEO Alex Martins went away to discuss the season and how to improve for the 2017 season. According to Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, Skiles’ feelings about the Magic were already wavering. The Magic believed this trip had smoothed things over.

Clearly they did not.

Rumors have it Skiles was burned out back in January and soldiered on through the season. It was unclear then, it would seem, if his frustration was something deeper or just the normal frustrations of the season. Clearly something deeper was there, or at least growing.

The Magic though truly seemed caught by surprise that Skiles would go through with the steps of resigning. It seemed to them they could still smooth things over, continue dialogue and move forward.

And so was everyone else.

Thanks to social media, we do get the chance to see how players react to news in real time. And while Rob Hennigan said the Magic did contact players directly after accepting the resignation, some surely found out through the media and he Magic’s press release rather than directly through the team.

The most famous — and probably most accurate feeling — came from Evan Fournier.

That was quite the welcome back from his vacation in the Philippines. He took an Instagram photo from the Magic locker room Monday with the caption “Back to Work.”

He followed up his initial reaction with a heartfelt thank you to his former coach with the note “#ControlWhatYouCanControl”.

Magic guard Brandon Jennings also briefly had a reaction asking what happened that he has since deleted. And assistant coach LaRon Profit responded to a fan that he was caught by surprise by the announcement just like everyone else.

That seemed to be the ongoing thought from players, as it was for the team. There was a lot of gratitude for the time they had with Skiles and certainly shock that there will not be any more. For all of Skiles’ shortcomings as a coach, the team did improve under him by 10 wins and several individual players improved.

Including Victor Oladipo, who penned an extended tweet thanking Skiles on Thursday:

"I’m as surprised as anyone else, but I just want to thank coach Skiles for helping us, but especially me improve on both ends of the floor this year in my 3rd season. What I learned from him I will keep with me for the rest of my career. I wish him all the best in anything he does."

UPDATE: Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel spoke to Nikola Vucevic, who also added his surprise to the news.

He told Robbins:

"I was surprised, like everyone else,” Vucevic told the Orlando Sentinel during a phone interview.“I don’t think anybody expected it to happen, but it was his decision. You just have to accept it and move on. It’s tough because I thought Coach was really doing something good for us. We were heading in the right direction. We finished up the season the right way. We had some good wins at the end. We were playing much better. He established a good foundation for the future. So it would’ve been good for us to kind of keep going with him, because he’s a good coach and also it’s important to have a certain continuity."

The Magic and the players will move on of course. They have to. There is no other choice.

The shock will subside and a new opportunity and a new challenge will arise for the players and this team.