Toronto, Ontario – Nick Nurse is suffering as a result of the Toronto Raptors’ difficult season, four years after he assisted in bringing home the first championship in the team’s history.
After five seasons, the Raptors announced on Friday that the head coach had been fired.
After finishing ninth in the Eastern Conference with a 41-41 record and losing to the Chicago Bulls in the NBA play-in tournament, Toronto was unable to qualify for the playoffs this season.
Team president Masai Ujiri stated in a release that “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.”
“With this chance, we can regroup, refocus, and assemble the team and players who will enable us to win our next championship.”
Ime Udoka, the former head coach of the Boston Celtics, is reportedly a replacement that Toronto may take into consideration. Due to an inappropriate relationship with a Celtics team employee, Udoka received a suspension this season. Last season, Udoke assisted Boston in making it to the NBA Finals.
Amidst the Raptors’ unsteady performance this season, numerous media reports speculated about Nurse’s future. His contract was scheduled to expire after the following season. There were rumors circulating that he and Ujiri were no longer on good terms.
Nurse addressed his own future in March, saying he would take time to consider his options in the off-season.
“I think I’m concentrated on this job, for sure, and this game,” Nurse said Friday. “But I think that 10 years is a good time to sit back and reflect a little bit, right? I think we’re going to do that all when the season ends.”
Nurse joined the Raptors organization in 2013 as an assistant coach before being named the ninth head coach in team history in June 2018.
He guided the Raptors to their first NBA title the following year. Toronto defeated the Orlando Magic, Philadelphia 76ers and the Milwaukee Bucks before topping the Golden State Warriors in the final.
Nurse, 55, was named the league’s coach of the year after Toronto posted a 53-19 mark in the 2019-20 season.
The team was 48-34 in the 2021-22 season and was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Philadelphia 76ers.
In his five seasons as head coach, Nurse had the best winning percentage in team history with a 227-163 record.
Media reports suggest Nurse will be in the running to fill other NBA head coaching vacancies.
Nurse, an alumna of the University of Northern Iowa, joined the NBA following a number of fruitful seasons in the NBA G League. Two years after leading Iowa to a league championship, he led Rio Grande Valley to one in 2013.
At the age of 23, Nurse became the youngest college basketball coach in American history when he took over as head coach of Grand View College.
He led the Birmingham Bullets (1995–1996), Manchester Giants (1998–2000), London Towers (2000–01), and Brighton Bears (2000–06) for 11 seasons in the British Basketball League. Nurse was a league champion in 1996 with Birmingham and again with the Giants in 2000.
In May 2018, Nurse took over as Toronto’s head coach from Dwane Casey. Following Cleveland’s sweeping of the Raptors in the second round of the playoffs, Casey was let go.
Since June 2019, Nurse has led the Canadian national team as head coach. Two years later, he inked a contract extension that would take him through the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.
The last time the men from Canada competed in the Olympics was in Sydney in 2000.
