The end of the NBA season often prompts changeover among team personnel. This spring, three franchises in particular have executives and other league figures preparing for potential head coaching vacancies.
We’ll start in Toronto, where Nick Nurse brought added attention to his status with the Raptors before a contest in Philadelphia last Friday. Nurse told reporters he’s “going to take a few weeks [after the season] to see where I'm at … where my head's at. And just see how the relationship with the organization is.” His voice was reflective, mentioning the conclusion of this campaign will bring to a close his 10th season with the franchise, including five as an assistant coach.
This last campaign, though, has proven quite trying and arduous for the Raptors, riddled with trade speculation and mounting uncertainty surrounding the futures of Fred VanVleet, OG Anunoby and Gary Trent Jr. As those three names featured prominently in league-wide discussions ahead of the February trade deadline, the first rumblings then surfaced regarding Nurse’s own unknown future ahead of the 2023-24 season, the final year of the head coach’s contract with Toronto.
Nurse’s comments certainly suggested he could depart the franchise on his own volition, while Raptors officials, sources told Yahoo Sports, have been openly evaluating Nurse’s current fit at the position after leading Toronto to its only championship in 2019.
Should Nurse ultimately exit, one potential replacement has been frequently linked to the Raptors: former Boston head coach Ime Udoka, as originally covered by the Toronto Star. Udoka was a finalist for the job back when the Raptors elevated Nurse to the team’s first chair. And while Udoka sits on the league sidelines following a season-long suspension for an improper relationship with a Celtics staffer, he appears to remain a leading candidate on the coaching market, as both Brooklyn and Atlanta circled Udoka after firing Steve Nash and Nate McMillan, respectively.
Nurse would command plenty of interest on the open market in his own right. Championship pedigrees keep head coaches at the top of front offices’ wish lists for years. His name has been most connected by league personnel to Houston’s organization, where Nurse once served as the head coach of the G League affiliate Rio Grande Valley Vipers.
Houston Rockets
Stephen Silas currently holds the position as Rockets head coach, but Houston is widely expected by league officials to make a change on its bench once his contract concludes at the end of this season.
Silas was originally hired during the 2020 offseason, when all coaching candidates, sources told Yahoo Sports, were required to meet with James Harden and Russell Westbrook. A pair of trade requests then led to both former MVPs departing Texas and sent the Rockets into a three-year rebuild, in which Rafael Stone’s front office has directed a prioritization of playing time for Houston’s young draft picks — highlighted by John Wall’s extended absence from the team during the 2021-22 campaign.
The Rockets, sources said, hold an organizational goal of taking significant strides toward postseason contention next season, armed with upward of $61 million in salary cap space this summer. Harden has loomed as a key target for the Rockets, sources told Yahoo Sports, with an opportunity to decline his player option with the Philadelphia 76ers for the 2023-24 campaign. And several potential coaching candidates — in addition to Nurse — whom league personnel have connected to the Rockets have a shared history with Harden.