76ers Rival Report: Raptors Part Ways With Nick Nurse

Nick Nurse is out of the picture for the Toronto Raptors.

Philadelphia 76ers' rival, the Toronto Raptors, are making a major change to their organization early on in the 2023 offseason. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Raptors have fired their head coach Nick Nurse, just a couple of weeks after the Raptors failed to clinch a spot in the playoffs.

Nurse got his start in the NBA as a former NBA G League head coach for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. After spending a few seasons at the G League level, Nurse landed himself a job with the Raptors, becoming an assistant for five seasons.

After the Raptors moved on from Dwane Casey, Nurse landed the head coach position ahead of the 2018-2019 NBA season. His first season in charge couldn’t have gone better, as Nurse and the Raptors won the 2019 NBA Finals.

The following season, the Raptors finished with a 53-19 record. Although they lost in the Eastern Conference Semifinals, Nurse was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year. From that point on, Nurse struggled to mirror his early success in Toronto. 

For the next three seasons, Nurse’s Raptors would achieve a 116-120 record. They missed the playoffs in 2021 and 2023. Although the Raptors clinched the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference last year, Nurse and the Raptors came up short against the Sixers in six games.

Nurse’s firing doesn’t come as a surprise. In the weeks leading up to the NBA’s Play-In Tournament, Nurse made it clear that there would be a reflection period at the end of the year, hinting at a possible change.

“I think when this season gets done, we'll evaluate everything and, even personally, like, I'm going to take a few weeks to see where I'm at," Nurse explained. "See where my head’s at and just see all of the relationships with the organization is everything.

“It's been ten years for me now, which is a pretty good run. And I don't know, over those ten years, we've got to be up there with number of wins with anybody in the league. I don't even know where that is, but we've had a lot of good seasons.”

Nurse hoped that the 2022-2023 Raptors could crack the postseason via the Play-In Tournament and make a surprising push. Unfortunately for Toronto, they didn’t have the tools to find success in a do-or-die battle.

With Nurse out of the picture in Toronto, a recent report indicated that former Boston Celtics head coach Ime Udoka is expected to be a “serious candidate” to replace Nurse, according to Wojnarowski. 

As for Nurse, he’ll draw interest from the Houston Rockets. For quite some time, the Rockets have been rumored to be a potential landing spot for Nurse if he were to become available. To no surprise, several reports have already reiterated that Nurse is on Houston’s radar.