Report: Former Raptors head coach Nurse hired by 76ers

Former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse has reached an agreement to become the next bench boss of the Philadelphia 76ers, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

In April 2023, Nurse, 55, was fired by the Raptors after five seasons as their head coach. He was with the organization for 10 years, starting as an assistant under Dwane Casey.

Wojnarowski said Nurse was engaged with the Phoenix Suns and 76ers before reaching an agreement with Philadelphia’s front office.

Terms were not made clear.

Nurse registered a 237-170 record as Raptors head coach, guiding the team to a championship title in the 2018-19 season, the first in franchise history.

The 76ers had a coaching vacancy after dismissing veteran Doc Rivers from the position earlier in the month.

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Rivers led the 76ers to their second straight 50-win season behind NBA MVP Joel Embiid but again failed to lead them to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time since 2001. The Sixers have not won an NBA championship since 1983.

It was the third-straight NBA semi-finals elimination for the 76ers.

With Nurse joining the 76ers, he and Embiid might need to work on their chemistry, as the MVP has blasted Nurse in the media on multiple occasions in the past.

This post-season, after the 76ers took a 2-0 series lead on the Nets with a 96-84 win, Embiid said Brooklyn did the same thing as Nurse after Game 1 of the Philadelphia-Toronto first-round series last year — complain about the officiating.

“I saw after the game last time, they (Nets) kind of took the Nick Nurse route of begging for free throws and calling out the referees,” Embiid said. “Then they come out, and they got a lot of calls, which I guess is good for them.”

The 76ers reported hiring of Nurse comes after the Milwaukee Bucks agreed to terms with long-time Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin as their new head coach.

The Raptors have not yet named Nurse’s replacement after casting a wide net of candidates, including Monty Williams, Becky Hammon, Jordi Fernández, Steve Nash and JJ Reddick.

In April, Toronto received permission to interview an array of assistants, including Golden State’s Kenny Atkinson, Milwaukee’s Charles Lee, Phoenix’s Kevin Young, San Antonio’s Mitch Johnson, Memphis’ Darko Rajakovic, Miami’s Chris Quinn and Fernández.

With files from Sportsnet