Denver Nuggets vice-chairman says he twice previously considered relieving coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth of their duties, before finally doing so last week.
The duo parted ways with the Nuggets in what was widely considered a surprise move, with the franchise well in contention to secure home-court advantage for the first round of the upcoming playoffs, which start this weekend.
Malone and Booth also led Denver to the NBA championship in 2023, but Kroenke said the decision had been in the pipeline for months, due to issues behind the scenes.
He claimed he held off in November to allow the team time to settle, while an eight-game winning streak prevented him from doing so in February.
Kroenke ultimately made the call last week "with the hope of kind of rejuvenating the energy of the group and re-establishing some positive thoughts before the playoffs".
"I want to start off by initially just saying thank you to both Calvin and Coach Malone," he told reporters during a news conference. "To be frank, neither one of them deserved it, so for that, I apologise.
"So, what would be crazier: me doing what I did last week, or doing it on an eight-game winning streak?
"I think that those eight games masked a trend that was going on behind closed doors that ultimately started to really affect the end of our season."
Kroenke, who installed David Adelman as coach and Ben Tenzer as general manager on an interim basis, will commence his search for permanent replacements at the end of the season.
He also addressed speculation suggesting the franchise would not approve trading forward Michael Porter Jr.
"First of all, I'll say, I'm incredibly proud of Michael," he said. "But I think that any kind of report saying that we're not open to trading everybody possible to improve the team is completely false.
"I'm not going to be green-lighting any trades around here when I don't see complete organisational cohesion, and we're not maximising the group we have."
The Nuggets have won all three games under interim coach Adelman to secure a third consecutive 50-win season and the fourth seed in the West.
They will open at home on Saturday against the fifth-seeded Los Angeles Clippers.