"They can keep dreaming": Masai Ujiri laughs off Lakers link to Raptors coach Nick Nurse

May 3 2022, 5:14 pm

Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri wasn’t pulling any punches when it came to his end-of-season press conference: especially when it came to the Los Angeles Lakers.

Asked about a rumour that the Lakers were interested in Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, Ujiri dismissed the notion.

“No team has contacted me,” Ujiri said. “I see all the stuff that you guys see. I dream like they dream. I want [Lionel] Messi. I want [Cristiano] Ronaldo. I want Kobe Bryant. So they can keep dreaming. I dream too.”

A rumour circled last monthĀ from Heavy.comā€™s Sean Deveney that an Eastern Conference executive said that the Lakers could be pushing for Nurseā€™s services next season.

After being touted as preseason favourites to win the NBA championship, the Lakers missed the postseason entirely, finishing 11th in the Western Conference.

ā€œI would expect the Lakers to at least ask about Nick Nurse,ā€ the executive told Deveney.

Nurse had previously denied any possibility that he’d be heading to California for a new job after the Lakers fired head coach Frank Vogel on the first day of their offseason.

But the Lakers weren’t quite free of Ujiri’s shots.

Asked about the possibility of a WNBA team in Toronto, Ujiri pivoted the question.

“I’m not getting into that. [That’s] Our dreams… just like the Lakers,” the Raptors president joked.

Adam LaskarisAdam Laskaris

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