The Toronto Raptors have fired head coach Nick Nurse, Sportsnet’s Michael Grange confirmed on Friday.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania of The Athletic were the first to report the firing.
The firing of Nurse ends a rocky final season with the club four years after he guided the team to its first and only NBA title.
The Raptors finished a disappointing ninth in the East at 41-41 this year and lost their first play-in game against the Chicago Bulls on Wednesday.
Nurse’s name was linked to the Houston Rockets’ job in a couple of published reports last month with former Boston Celtics coach Ime Udoka being rumoured as a Raptors possibility. Then, he expanded on his future before a game in Philadelphia, saying he’d evaluate his future with the club after the season.
When pressed for more thoughts the next game, Nurse, who had one year left on his contract with the Raptors, refused to go further, saying he was concentrating on the current situation.
Throughout the year, there were signs of disconnect between Nurse and the front office. The coach leaned heavily on his starters and young players like Malachi Flynn and Dalano Banton got little playing time.
While Nurse said he has a good relationship with president Masai Ujiiri at his end-of-season media availability, the turbulence throughout the season showed they may not always have been aligned.
The disappointing final year was a stark contrast to a good chunk of the rest of Nurse’s time as head coach.
After the team cut ties with head coach Dwane Casey following the 2017-18 season, the Raptors promoted then-assistant Nurse to the top job. He proceeded to guide the Raptors to the NBA title in his first season at the helm after the club made a blockbuster trade for Kawhi Leonard.
Despite losing Leonard in free agency the next summer, Nurse’s Raptors got off to a 46-18 start in 2019-20 before COVID-19 halted play. Upon their return to the Orlando bubble, the Raptors advanced to the second round of the NBA playoffs, where they lost in seven games to the Boston Celtics.
Nurse was named NBA coach of the year in 2019-20 and then signed a contract extension.
But with the pandemic still going, the Raptors were forced to relocate to Tampa, Fla. for the 2020-21 season. With the season going poorly, the campaign was dubbed “The Tampa Tank” and the Raptors ended up getting the fourth overall pick, which they used to select Scottie Barnes.
Barnes was rookie of the year the following season as the Raptors rose to fifth in the East before losing in six games to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round.
Nurse arrived in Toronto as an assistant in 2013, a job he held for five years.
Previously, the well-travelled Nurse had worked in the G League, winning two championships as a head coach.
The 55-year-old Iowa native cut his coaching teeth in the British Basketball League.
Nurse was 227-163 in 360 regular-season games as head coach in Toronto.
