It started in an Iowa basement with a whiteboard covered in the scribblings of two then-relatively unknown basketball minds, a manifesto of on-court success.
Nick Nurse and Nate Bjorkgren have seen a lot in their 27-year friendship. Both Iowa natives, they’ve coached together and against each other in the G League, back when it was known as the D League and of course were together for the Raptors’ 2019 championship run. Bjorkgren was hired by the Indiana Pacers in October and on Sunday afternoon, the two will face each other as rival NBA head coaches for the first time in a back-to-back set in Indianapolis.