Nick Nurse fired as Toronto Raptors head coach
CTV
The Toronto Raptors have fired Nick Nurse four years after the head coach steered the team towards its first NBA championship win.
The Toronto Raptors have fired Nick Nurse four years after the head coach steered the team towards its first NBA championship win.
The team confirmed the leadership change in a news release Friday morning.
“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,” President Masai Ujiri said in a statement.
“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.”
The Raptors failed to make the playoffs this season, losing to the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Ujiri said the last year has been “very disappointing” and that the team has lost some of its momentum.
“It's not one person or one finger to point,” he said. “And there's no pointing the finger at Nick. I have to take responsible responsibility for this too. As a leader of this organization, I will always do that, but it wasn't us this year.”
