Indiana Pacers name Nate Bjorkgren head coach

The Indiana Pacers named Nate Bjorkgren of Storm Lake, Iowa their head coach on Tuesday according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN on Tuesday. Bjorkgren takes over from Nate McMillan, who was fired by the Pacers on August 26.

Bjorkgren spent two seasons each with the Phoenix Suns and the Toronto Raptors as an assistant coach in the National Basketball Association leading up to his promotion this week. In addition to being an assistant coach with the Suns, he was their leading player development co-ordinator.

On October 22, 2017, Bjorkgren was fired by the Suns, and found a home in Toronto. Before being the Raptors assistant coach, he was part of Toronto’s scouting department.

Bjorkgren had a close connection with Raptors head coach Nick Nurse. Both are from the state of Iowa, as Nurse is from Carroll, Iowa. Also, Bjorkgren was an assistant coach under Nurse for four seasons with the Iowa Energy of the NBA D-League from 2007 to 2011.

In the 2019 NBA Playoffs, Bjorkgren was part of the Raptors squad that won their first and only NBA Finals. They defeated the Golden State Warriors in six games. Now Bjorkgren will try to accomplish something that no other Pacers team has accomplished while the franchise has been in the NBA, and that is to win a NBA championship.

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In 2019-20, the Pacers had the fourth best record in the Eastern Conference as they were at 45 wins and 28 losses. However, they were swept in four games by the Miami Heat, who went on to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals. Among the Pacers under contract for next season are Victor Oladipo, Malcolm Brogdon, Domantas Sabonis, Myles Turner, T.J. Warren, and Jeremy Lamb.

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