Summer League is a good time because it gives the basketball world the opportunity to descend upon an endearingly odd city in Las Vegas. It also comes at a point in the NBA calendar where there can be a bit of uncertainty with regards to players who decide to take their time once free agency opens up. Both of these things led to a delightful story from Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse.
Like plenty of other head coaches, Nurse traveled to Vegas for Summer League, even though Kawhi Leonard’s future was still up in the air. He eventually got the call that Leonard would leave Toronto to join the Los Angeles Clippers at a horribly inopportune time, which he explained to Rachel Nichols of ESPN. It turns out Nurse was at what sounds like a tremendous Las Vegas show, and when he got the text, he decided to make the best of the situation.
Just ran into Raptors Coach Nick Nurse at Summer League – he told me he was watching a Prince impersonator at the Tropicana when the text came in about Kawhi choosing the Clippers. He said he read it, shrugged and figured he might as well stay & enjoy the rest of the show.
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) July 10, 2019
In fairness to Nurse, that does sound like an entertaining. Here’s the performer at the center of it all, Jason Tenner, doing “Purple Rain.”
Pretty good! While Nurse probably would have strongly preferred for Leonard to stay in Toronto, he got to see a show that, per its website, “captures the imagination and seamlessly re-creates the blistering performances and raw energy of Prince in his prime and returns you to the era that made ‘The Artist’ an international superstar,” which seems like an effective way to not dwell on his departure for a few hours.
