Nick Nurse fired as Raptors coach as team looks to ‘reset’
Nick Nurse has been fired as the Raptors head coach.
The news came an hour before Raptors vice chairman and team president Masai Ujiri held his end-of-season media availability.
The decision to make a change like this is never arrived at easily or taken lightly, especially when it comes to a person who has been an integral part of this franchise's most historic accomplishments, and who has been a steady leader through some of our team's most challenging times," Ujiri said in a statement. As we reflect on Nick's many successes, we thank him and his family, and wish them the best in future.
This is an opportunity for us to reset, to refocus, to put into place the personnel and the players who will help us reach our goal of winning our next championship."
Nurse spent five years as head coach and five as an assistant in Toronto. He leaves the organization with the best winning percentage in team history with a 227-163 (.582) record. He made three playoff appearances and led the team to its first NBA championship in 2019.
The Raptors will have plenty of options, internally and externally, when it comes to potential replacements.
There were several factors that ultimately led Ujiri to fire the 55-year-old Nurse, according to league sources.
The failure to develop either young talent or a consistent bench group weighed heavily on the move, which had been anticipated in NBA circles for at least a couple of weeks.
That, coupled with Toronto's relative failings of the last two seasons - a first-round playoff exit in 2022, missing the post-season entirely this season - led Ujiri to see a need for a change.
The trickle down effect will be substantial.
Of Nurse's top assistants, Nate Bjorkgren in his long-time lieutenant and is likely to follow Nurse out the door. Adrian Griffin is deep in the interview process for the vacant Detroit Pistons job and Trevor Gleeson was strongly tied to Nurse.
It's likely that only Earl Watson, hired by Ujiri and Nurse two seasons ago, returns as a front-row assistant.
Doug Smith is a sports reporter based in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @smithraps