Sixers to hire Nick Nurse as new head coach
The Philadelphia 76ers have made a decision.
Nick Nurse will be the next head coach of the Sixers, a source confirmed to NBC Sports Philadelphia’s John Clark and Noah Levick on Monday.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first ESPN Sources: Nick Nurse has reached an agreement to become the next coach of the Philadelphia 76ers. Nurse — who won an NBA championship and a coach of year award with Toronto — now gets to coach the 2023 MVP Joel Embiid. pic.twitter.com/SrsXhzx7Y3
Nurse, 55, led the Toronto Raptors for the last five seasons. The 2020 NBA Coach of the Year was fired by the Raptors after a 41-41 season ended with a loss in the play-in tournament.
He compiled a 227-163 record in his Toronto tenure, with his greatest accomplishment coming in his first year when the Raptors won the NBA championship. That playoff run, of course, included a buzzer-beating second-round win in Game 7 over the Sixers. Philadelphia got its revenge against Nurse in the 2022 playoffs, defeating Toronto 4-2 in the first round.
Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey has prior experience with Nurse, who he hired to be the Houston Rockets’ G-League coach back in 2011.
The Sixers fired Doc Rivers after three seasons following their second-round loss to the Boston Celtics.
