Why it’s unfair to the players for Nick Nurse to soft-launch his exit from the Raptors.
With his team deep in the playoff hunt, Nurse went into a seemingly unplanned, random rant about his future with the Raptors organization.
In his last season with the Golden State Warriors in 2018–19, Kevin Durant seemed to be on the verge of leaving. One of the main narratives in the NBA is Durant’s impending free agency, which he signed numerous one-year contracts instead of anything longer.
Reporters questioned the team’s interpersonal dynamics, particularly after tensions escalated on the court during a shouting match between Durant and Draymond Green during a game, with Green citing Durant’s impending free agency as a distraction in the locker room. In fact, one of the Warriors beat reporters wrote a book about the Durant situation because it became such a hot topic of conversation.
The fact is, Durant did nothing wrong at all. Although he declined to sign a contract after that season, he didn’t play any less hard, criticize his coaches or teammates, or publicly discuss playing somewhere else. In fact, Durant made a point of returning the conversation to basketball whenever he was questioned about his impending free agency. And yet he was made fun of.
This is the actual state of affairs in the modern NBA, where events on the court can be influenced by external narratives: Whether you are a coach or a player, you will face criticism if you let your impending free agency cause distractions in the locker room.
Nobody knows that better than Nick Nurse. The five-year head coach of the Toronto Raptors is aware that he or she represents the team and that managing the media is a significant aspect of their job in order to keep the outside noise out.
That’s why it was so odd when Nurse raised the subject of his impending free agency on his own initiative without ever being asked to do so. With six games left in what has been a precarious regular season, Nurse openly discussed his future with the team in an apparently random tirade, even though he is still under contract to play for next year.
