ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski has announced that Nick Nurse will become the Philadelphia 76ers’ new head coach.
The Memorial Day announcement comes only two days after the Milwaukee Bucks announced the signing of Nurse’s former assistant Adrian Griffin as their head coach. Nurse, who was also in the running for both the Bucks and Suns openings, reportedly removed himself from consideration for the Bucks’ job after reaching the final round of interviews.
The Toronto Raptors let Nurse go after a season where they went 41-41 and failed to surpass the lower-seeded Chicago Bulls in the Play-In Tournament. Helping win the organization its first championship during his first full season as an NBA coach in 2018-19, it appears Nurse’s voice seemingly started to fall flat within the organization. However, with a 227-163 all-time record, Nurse has proven to be one of the best minds in the game.
The 76ers fired long-time NBA head coach Doc Rivers after just three seasons with the franchise. While he did carry a 65.3 percent winning percentage during his time in Philly, the 76ers failed to make it past the second round of the playoffs in each of his three seasons. They most recently struggled to get past the Celtics despite an MVP season from Joel Embiid and a 3-2 lead.
The big question now … what happens with the Phoenix Suns? Woj reported on ESPN that Nurse’s agent was very much involved in talks with Phoenix, so will the franchise continue to pursue an experienced name like Rivers or Mike Budenholzer or will they seek out a highly-respected assistant like the Bucks did with Griffin?
We’ll see.