Nurse: ‘I look forward to coaching the Sixers and doing my part to deliver for this tremendous fanbase’

It’s official!

On Thursday, the Philadelphia 76ers announced that Nick Nurse has been named the team’s head coach. 

For the past five seasons, Nurse was the head coach for the Toronto Raptors, and in his first season with the Raptors, he led Toronto to a championship in 2019.  

In three seasons with Doc Rivers, who the 76ers fired after their season ended, Philadelphia could not get out of the second round of the playoffs. With Nurse, Philadelphia 76ers  managing partner Josh Harris believes the team can win a championship.

“Throughout his career, he has won at multiple levels, including on the biggest stage when he led Toronto to the 2019 NBA title,” Harris said in a press release. “He is a smart, innovative, and determined coach who really stood out in this process. No matter the hurdles we’ve faced, our goal remains to bring a championship to Philadelphia, and Nick is the right coach to lead us forward.” 

76ers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey says Nurse was the team’s top priority.

“We are absolutely thrilled to welcome Nick Nurse as the new head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers,” Morey said. “His championship pedigree and diversity of experience, mixed with his uniquely creative approach, made him our top priority. We are confident that his leadership and expertise will help us unlock the full potential of our talented roster and bring an exciting new era of championship basketball to Philadelphia.” 

The 55-year-old Nurse, who is the only head coach in league history to win championships and Coach of the Year awards in both the NBA and G League, will have an opportunity to coach league MVP Joel Embiid, possibly James Harden, and talented guard Tyrese Maxey.

“It’s been a fun challenge coaching against this group over the last five years,” Nurse said. “Now, I look forward to coaching the Sixers and doing my part to deliver for this tremendous fanbase.” 

Philadelphia keeps losing in the second round, and they will have some interesting decisions to make in the offseason. First, Harden. He is expected to opt out of the final year of his contract and become an unrestricted free agent. Next, they have to find a way to keep Embiid healthy in the playoffs, which has been a problem during his career. Finally, they have to find pieces to surround Embiid; however, because they are over the cap, that could be difficult, so getting to the next level will be challenging, but that’s why they brought in Nurse to make it happen.