After firing former NBA championship coach Nick Nurse, the Toronto Raptors appear to have zeroed in on their choice to replace him.
According to ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski, the Raptors are finalizing a deal with Memphis Grizzlies assistant coach Darko Rajakovic to become the new head coach of the team. Per the report, Rajakovic was one candidate in an “exhaustive” search by the Raptors to identify their replacement for Nurse.
The 44-year-old coach has been working as a basketball since he was 16 years old in his native Serbia. At just 19 years old he got his first head coaching job working with a youth team in Belgrade.
Rajakovic got his first taste of American basketball in 2012 as head coach of the Tulsa 66ers. After two years in the NBA’s development league, he became an assistant with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2014 and has since worked with them, the Phoenix Suns and the Grizzlies over the past decade.
ESPN Sources: The Toronto Raptors are finalizing a deal to hire Memphis Grizzlies assistant Darko Rajakovic as the franchise’s next coach. pic.twitter.com/AEPu64p2F2
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 10, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
The Serbian native had been a G League head coach and assistant with OKC and had a stop with the Suns on way to elevating into a top assistant for Taylor Jenkins and the Grizzlies.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 10, 2023
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Darko Rajakovic takes over a Raptors team that has just one losing season in the past decade but is lacking starpower in a division that saw all of their rivals make the playoffs this past season.
The Raptors will need more than just a quality head coach to return to the playoffs in 2024.
Do you approve of the Rajakovic hire?