NBA Rumors: 3 Top Nick Nurse Destinations

Now that the Houston Rockets' head coaching job is off the table, one of the other supposed favorites for the position, Nick Nurse, will be looking elsewhere for his next role. 

After leading the Toronto Raptors to an NBA championship in 2019, and taking home Coach of the Year in 2020 after leading the Dinos to the 2nd best record in the league (without Kawhi Leonard), the team had a disappointing season this year, and Nurse is now looking for employment with a new club. 

Here are three teams that could easily be a top destination for Nurse:

Dallas Mavericks

Jason Kidd recently got a vote of confidence from the Mavs' front office, but after the disaster of a season that the team just had, it wouldn't be the least bit surprising to see them change course and go in another direction. 

Luka Doncic continues to be one of the top talents in the NBA, but the team hasn't been able to make it to the promised land in his five seasons—in fact, they didn't even make it to the Play-In this year. The marriage of Kyrie Irving and Luka was a debacle, as the team took a nose-dive from 4th in the Western Conference at the time of the trade to acquire Kyire, to finishing 11th when all was said and done. 

But Nurse has taken a superstar-led team to an NBA title before, perhaps he'll be asked to do it in Dallas. 

Detroit Pistons

At the other end of the spectrum, there's the Detroit Pistons. A team finishing at or near the bottom of the entire NBA for the fourth straight season, despite a recent influx of some nice talent. Is Nurse ready to start from the bottom and work to build and mold a young team to the top?

The irony here, of course, would be the fact that Nurse would be taking over for the under-achieving Dwane Casey as coach, just as he did in Toronto. Nurse was a former Casey assistant for five years with the Raptors. With Casey still in the organization, it would be an interesting development indeed.

Los Angeles Clippers

Yes, the Clippers currently have a head coach, and pretty good one in Tyronn Lue. One with a ring on his finger himself. But there have been rumors that Lue could step down from the job after the season. 

As this fourth season of the Kawhi Leonard/Paul George experiment in LA is close to ending once again in injury and defeat, this would be quite a challenge for any coach to take on. But hey, Nurse guided Kawhi to a championship in Toronto, along with one of his sidekicks, Norman Powell. Could a reunion be in the offing?

This will be a very interesting offseason on the NBA coaching carousel.

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