The Indiana Pacers made a coaching change earlier this year when the franchise opted to part ways with Nate McMillan. The move came following the team’s departure from the NBA’s Orlando Bubble in August, and for nearly two months, the job has been vacant.
That is slated to change soon, according to a report by Shams Charania of The Athletic. The Pacers’ search has reportedly come to an end, with the team deciding to pluck Raptors assistant coach Nate Bjorkgren from Toronto and make him Indiana’s next head coach.
The Indiana Pacers are hiring Raptors assistant Nate Bjorkgren as their new head coach, sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) October 20, 2020
The news of the hiring was confirmed by J. Michael of the Indianapolis Star and Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The Pacers’ new coach is Raptors asst Nate Bjorkgren, a league source tells @IndyStarSports
— J. Michael (@ThisIsJMichael) October 20, 2020
Breaking: The Indiana Pacers have agreed to a deal to hire Toronto assistant Nate Bjorkgren as head coach, sources tell @wojespn. pic.twitter.com/zEo9bqpSn5
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 20, 2020
The 45-year-old Bjorkgren has never been an NBA head coach, but has stints with several G League teams under his belt. He has some NBA assistant coaching experience, as he was with the Phoenix Suns from 2015-17 and joined Nick Nurse’s staff in Toronto prior to the start of the 2018-19 campaign, when the Raptors went on to win the first championship in franchise history. He’ll take over a franchise that has long been a playoff team in the Eastern Conference, but has never quite gotten over the hump — the franchise has not made it past the first round of the playoffs since 2013-14.
