The Toronto Raptors' coaching staff will be pretty thin for Friday night's matchup with the Houston Rockets.
Marc Stein of the New York Times reported Raptors head coach Nick Nurse and five others on his staff are entering the NBA's health and safety protocols. They will not be on the bench Friday night.
Raptors coach Nick Nurse and five other members of the Toronto coaching staff are entering the league's health and safety protocols and will not coach tonight, @NYTSports has learned
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) February 26, 2021
This begs the question: who will coach the Raptors on Friday? Moreover, can the NBA reasonably know for sure none of the players have possibly had exposure?
As of now, the status of Friday's game has not changed. The Raptors will still host the Rockets on Friday. It might not be surprising, however, if this is still a developing situation.
Toronto has not been as successful as last season when they earned the second seed in the Eastern Conference. But Nurse and the Raptors have been grinding to turn their season around.
The Raptors began the year with a 2-8 mark. Since then, Toronto is 14-9, though it lost both ends of a back-to-back against the Philadelphia 76ers and Miami Heat, respectively. Still, the Raptors are in a decent position in an underwhelming Eastern Conference. They are currently the fifth seed, well within striking distance (just a half-game) of the fourth-seeded Indiana Pacers.
Despite the turnaround, however, there has been fairly consistent chatter regarding point guard Kyle Lowry's future. Lowry is on an expiring contract, and reports suggested he would like to be in his hometown of Philadelphia.
For now, Lowry is still in the business of winning with the Raptors. He and his teammates will hope to put an end to the skid Friday against the Rockets, though they will have to do without Nurse on the bench.
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