The Toronto Raptors interviewed Sacramento Kings assistant coach Jordi Fernandez on Friday morning, sources told Marc J. Spears of ESPN.

The team is set to interview several other candidates, including Kenny Atkinson, Charles Lee, and Becky Hammon. 

The Toronto Raptors have begun a wide search for their next head coach to replace Nick Nurse.

The Raptors have gathered permission to interview several top assistant coaches to open up the process, including: Golden State's Kenny Atkinson, Milwaukee's Charles Lee, Phoenix's Kevin Young, San Antonio's Mitch Johnson, Sacramento's Jordi Fernandez, Memphis' Darko Rajakovic and Miami's Chris Quinn.

The Raptors also secured permission to speak to Las Vegas Aces coach Becky Hammon.

Ime Udoka was expected to be a candidate for the Toronto job, but he agreed to terms with the Houston Rockets this week.

Toronto Raptors forward Otto Porter Jr. picked up his $6.3 million player option for next season, sources told Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Porter appeared in just eight games last year and underwent season-ending foot surgery in January. 

The Toronto Raptors will interview Adrian Griffin for their head coaching vacancy.

Griffin was an assistant coach under Nick Nurse, who the Raptors parted ways with at the end of their season.

Griffin has been an assistant coach since his retirement in 2008.

Ime Udoka has agreed to become the next head coach of the Houston Rockets.

Udoka was also a strong candidate for the Toronto Raptors' head coaching vacancy, while he was also considered by the Atlanta Hawks and Brooklyn Nets for their jobs.

Udoka was suspended and later dismissed by the Boston Celtics after findings of an inappropriate workplace relationship. Udoka led the Celtics to an appearance in The Finals in his first season as head coach.

According to sources that spoke with ESPN, "the Rockets probed the circumstances around Udoka’s Celtics departure with the team and league office."

Nick Nurse and Sam Cassell were among the other candidates linked to the Rockets' vacancy.

The Toronto Raptors are willing to make anyone on their roster available via trade this offseason outside of Scottie Barnes.

"Outside of Scottie Barnes, who is coming off a disappointing follow up to his Rookie of the Year campaign, everybody and everything is on the table as the off-season kicks into high gear ahead of the draft in late June and free agency at the beginning of July," writes Josh Lewenberg.

This leaves Pascal Siakam and OG Anunoby as high impact, possibly available players on the trade market. Fred VanVleet, Jakob Poeltl and Gary Trent Jr. will be free agents. 

“I think changes are going to be made on all fronts,” Masai Ujiri said. “We’re going to address that with the team. We saw how different players on our team would rise, would do well, but we never did it collectively. Maybe that could be fit. Maybe that could be system, sometimes role orientation, sometimes accountability – all the things we are going to really look at it how our roster is built. We believe in the players we have. Whether it’s tweaks or major changes, we’re definitely going to look at everything.”

The Toronto Raptors are expected to consider Ime Udoka for their next head coach. Toronto fired Nick Nurse with one season remaining on his contract.

Udoka has one year of head coaching experience, as he led the Boston Celtics to the 2022 NBA Finals. Udoka was then suspended by the Celtics shortly before the start of this season, due to inappropriate workplace behavior. Boston and Udoka have since fully parted ways.

Udoka and Toronto president Masai Ujiri have an existing relationship from the work they've done through basketball throughout Africa. Ujiri offered praise for Udoka in the past when he was an assistant coach interviewing for head coach opportunities.

The Toronto Raptors have fired head coach Nick Nurse. Nurse and Toronto were reportedly considering parting ways at the end of the season, as far back as midseason.

Nurse was the Raptors coach for five seasons from 2018 until 2023. In his first season a head coach, Nurse led Toronto to their first, and only, championship in 2019. Following the 2019-20 season, Nurse was named as Coach of the Year.

Overall, Nurse went 227-163 in five regular seasons. He was a further 25-16 in three playoff appearances.

Tuesday night's play-in game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Los Angeles Lakers averaged 3.47 million viewers on TNT.

The viewership stands as the second largest in play-in game history, only trailing the Lakers game against the Warriors from two years ago. It was also the second most-watched game of the season on cable, trailing the Lakers-Warriors game from opening night.

Wednesday night's Thunder-Pelicans game averaged 2.86 million viewers.

In the Eastern Conference, the Hawks-Heat matchup averaged 2.25 million viewers on TNT. The Bulls-Raptors game averaged 2.18 million viewers for ESPN. 

Fred VanVleet is widely expected to decline his $22.8 million option with the Toronto Raptors for the 23-24 season, but he wasn't ready to commit to doing so one day after they were eliminated from the playoffs.

"I know we're very dramatic around here," he said. "It's a tough way to go out. Not too much rush to jump into a decision about opting out. It will take some time."

Though VanVleet denies the team made a formal offer, he reportedly declined a four-year, $114 million extension before the 2022-23 season.

VanVleet re-signed with the Raptors in 2020 on a four-year, $85 million deal.

VanVleet averaged 19.3 points, 7.2 assists and 4.1 rebounds this season.