Nick Nurse is one of the brightest young coaches in the league. His record with the Toronto Raptors since he took over as head coach has been excellent, and he already has a championship to his name. Understandably, that means there is always interest in Nurse from other teams looking for coaches, and now that the Los Angeles Lakers have a vacancy in the role, his name has been mentioned as a potential target.
The Lakers are a massive franchise, the most well-known NBA team around the world, and one of the most successful in the league’s history. This means that when they want a player or a coach, quite often they get their way. However, it would seem that this is not going to be the case with Nurse, who has spoken about the rumored interest and explained that he is happy to be coaching his current Raptors team.
Nick Nurse on reports of the Lakers' interest in him: "I don't know where that stuff comes from and I'm focused on coaching this team."
— Josh Lewenberg (@JLew1050) May 2, 2022
“I don’t know where that stuff comes from and I’m focused on coaching this team.”
That will be a blow to Lakers fans, who are hoping that a coaching change can galvanize the team after what has been an extremely poor season compared to their expectations. The Lakers failed to make it to the play-in tournament, and something needs to change quickly for the team.
The opportunity to coach LeBron James and Anthony Davis along with whatever roster the front office manages to put around them is surely enticing for any coach, but the Lakers roster is getting older, not younger, and Nurse is established with the Raptors as a major contributor in what the franchise is building.
Toronto made it to the playoffs but fell short against the Philadelphia 76ers, which is fine since the team is young and will only get better in the coming years. If they can develop their stars into taking the next leap, Nurse is sure to find himself leading a team that can be perennial contenders in the NBA.
