The Philadelphia 76ers have reached an agreement to make Nick Nurse their next head coach, ESPN reported Monday.
Nurse, 55, was dismissed by the Toronto Raptors in April after five seasons as their head coach, a tenure that included the 2019 NBA title in his first season at the helm.
He was in Toronto for the past 10 seasons overall, starting as an assistant coach from 2013-18. Nurse had a 227-163 record in five seasons as the Raptors’ head coach. He is also the head coach of the Canadian men’s national team.
Nurse will be tasked with replacing Doc Rivers, whose 76ers made the NBA playoffs in each of his three seasons as head coach before losing in the second round each time. The 76ers fired Rivers on May 17 after the 76ers bowed out in seven games to the Boston Celtics.
He inherits a team anchored by league MVP Joel Embiid. Nurse and Embiid have some history as opponents, and after a 76ers playoff win over the Brooklyn Nets last month, Embiid said the Nets “kind of took the Nick Nurse route of begging for free throws.”
Nurse’s Raptors eliminated the 76ers in seven games in the 2019 Eastern Conference semifinals.
ESPN reported that the Phoenix Suns were also interested in Nurse for their head-coaching vacancy.
–Field Level Media