Sixers to hire former Raptors coach Nick Nurse as their next head coach

Nurse, 55, won a title in Toronto in 2019 and has a relationship with president Daryl Morey, who worked with the new Sixers coach when they were both with the Houston Rockets organization.

Former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse coaches against the Sixers during the Eastern Conference playoffs on April 16, 2022 in Philadelphia.Read moreYONG KIM / Staff Photographer

by Gina Mizell

Published May 29, 2023, 4:53 p.m. ET

Nick Nurse has agreed to become the next head coach of the 76ers, a source confirmed to The Inquirer on Monday afternoon.

Nurse, the Toronto Raptors’ former coach, was the Sixers’ choice after being coveted by multiple teams — including the Milwaukee Bucks and Phoenix Suns — during a particularly robust coaching cycle. The Sixers also interviewed former Los Angeles Lakers coach (and Wildwood Crest native) Frank Vogel for the job, The Inquirer confirmed last week. Earlier this weekend, the Bucks reportedly reached an agreement to hire former Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin.

The 55-year-old Nurse replaces Doc Rivers, who improved the Sixers’ win total in each of his three seasons but failed to get them past the playoffs’ second round. Rivers was fired on May 16 after the Sixers lost in Game 7 of their second-round series with the Boston Celtics. Nurse takes over a team anchored by reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid but with several looming roster decisions, including the future of star guard James Harden.

Nurse has led an intriguing basketball journey, from the British Basketball League, to the D League (now G League), to becoming an NBA assistant before being elevated to the Raptors’ head coaching position after Dwane Casey’s firing following the 2017-18 season. And Nurse has been a championship winner and coach of the year at every level, including when he got his NBA head-coaching opportunity.

He took a Raptors roster that had repeatedly hit its playoff ceiling over the top, capitalizing on the blockbuster trade for Kawhi Leonard by winning the franchise’s only NBA championship in 2019. The following season, after Leonard left Toronto to sign with the Los Angeles Clippers, Nurse was named the NBA’s coach of the year after leading the Raptors to 53 wins and the playoffs’ second round, where they lost in seven games to the Celtics. Toronto made the playoffs as the Eastern Conference’s fifth seed in 2022, when it lost to the Sixers in six games in the first round.

The Raptors fired Nurse following this season, however, after Toronto failed to advance out of the play-in tournament and relationships between some players and Nurse reportedly turned prickly. Outside belief existed that the Raptors might execute a midseason pivot into rebuilding mode by trading key players at the February deadline, but they held steady and finished with a 41-41 regular-season record before losing at home to the Chicago Bulls in their first play-in game.

Nurse is known for his schematic creativity and game-plan preparation. The Raptors recently deployed an unconventional lineup featuring a bevy of like-sized wing players with length and athleticism, allowing them to play aggressive defense that generously switched on screens.

He also helped Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet become All-Stars, Scottie Barnes become the NBA’s rookie of the year in 2022, and OG Anunoby become one of the league’s premier perimeter defenders. The coach also got solid contributions from role players, such as Gary Trent Jr. and Chris Boucher. During Nurse’s tenure, the Raptors organization was praised for its development of undrafted, second-round, and two-way players.

This hiring also reunites Nurse with Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, as both were previously with the Houston Rockets organization. Nurse was coach of the Rockets’ D League-affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers for two seasons, winning the title in 2013. His offensive style predicated on floor-spacing, and driving and kicking out for three-pointers already aligned with the Rockets’ philosophy at the time. Yet Nurse said publicly that he also received the freedom to use that environment as a “laboratory,” and that those influences and tactics stuck with him as he moved on to the Raptors’ staff.

Coincidentally — or serendipitously — Nurse publicly pondered his future in Toronto during a pregame news conference in the hallways of the Wells Fargo Center on March 31, when asked “where [his] head is at” as an unusual regular-season wound down.

”When this season gets done, we’ll evaluate everything,” Nurse said then. “And even personally, I’m going to take a few weeks to see where I’m at … and just see how my relationship with the organization is and everything. It’s been 10 years for me now, which is a pretty good run. …

”I think 10 years is a good time to sit back and reflect a little bit, right? So I think we’re going to do that — all when the season ends.”

Now, the place where Nurse made those statements is his new home arena.