Raptors exec throws shade at Lakers over rumored Nick Nurse interest
By Jason Reed
The Los Angeles Lakers are in search of the team’s next head coach after firing Frank Vogel shortly after the 2021-22 season ended. There has been a myriad of names connected to the Lakers, some of which the team should be avoiding at all costs.
One of the more interesting names that were connected to the Lakers was Toronto Raptors head coach, Nick Nurse. The connection between the Lakers and Nurse was quite clear with Nurse being a Klutch Sports client.
Nurse is a very good head coach and although the Raptors were eliminated in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, it seemed highly unlikely that Toronto would ever be willing to move on from Nurse. The Raptors would either have to let him out of his contract or would have to trade him to the Lakers for draft compensation.
That has always seemed like an extremely unlikely scenario and Raptors president of basketball operations Masai Ujiri officially put the nail in the coffin, throwing some shade the Lakers way as well.
Masai Ujiri on reports of the Lakers' interest in Nick Nurse: "No team has contacted me. And I see all the stuff that you guys see. I dream like they dream. I want Messi. I want Renaldo. I want Kobe Bryant. So they can keep dreaming. I dream too."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) May 3, 2022
You can officially take Nick Nurse off of the list of candidates for Lakers head coach.
It was always going to be an uphill battle for Nurse to be the head coach of the Lakers and in reality, his name was likely just connected to LA to try and give him some sort of leverage in future contract talks with the organization.
The Lakers obviously did not leak this interest in Nurse (which is backed up by the fact that they have not even contacted Toronto with a feeler). It was likely Klutch who leaked this to the media, trying to raise the value of their guy.
It is the same reason why Mark Jackson was named as someone who LeBron James would reportedly be in favor of hiring. Jackson, also a Klutch client, is now reportedly one of the finalists for the vacant head coach gig with the Sacramento Kings.
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While Ujiri is undoubtedly one of the best executives in the NBA, it is interesting that he wants both Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Perhaps they could make up a dynamic pick-and-roll together? After all, Ujiri has been a step ahead before.