Darko Rajakovic thrilled to be taking over as Toronto Raptors coach

TORONTO(AP) — Darko Rajakovic has been in a good mood ever since theToronto Raptors made him the 10th head coach in franchisehistory.

“The lastthree days I’ve had a smile on my face so much my jaw is startingto hurt,” Rajakovic joked Tuesday at an outdoor newsconference.

Rajakovic,44, replaces Nick Nurse, who was fired on April 21 after Torontowent 41-41 and lost in the opening round of the play-intournament.

“We’rereally, really excited for this day,” Raptors president Masai Ujirisaid, seated alongside Rajakovic on a stage set up outside theteam’s downtown arena. “I know it’s change and sometimes change ishard, but we believe change is good, and change is good for ourball club and our organization now.”

Generalmanager Bobby Webster said Rajakovic “didn’t go in as the favorite”when Toronto started its search, but won over the Raptors as theprocess evolved.

“He’sreally smart, he’s detailed, he’s structured,” Webster said. “Hehas a really diverse set of experiences internationally, but alsoin the NBA. He’s worked for a number of organizations and directlywith a lot of, like, high-caliber players and it just kind of allfit. He just exceeded our expectations and just really impressedus.”

Rajakovicsaid he felt an immediate connection with Toronto’s front officestaff.

“The firsttime we started talking on a Zoom call, what I felt from day onewas unity,” Rajakovic said. “Everyone in the organization, youcould just feel that everybody is together.”

Born andraised in Serbia, Rajakovic has been involved in coaching since histeens. He coached in Spain before coming to the United States.

Rajakovicwas a head coach for two seasons in the G League (then called theNBA Development League) before joining the Oklahoma City Thunder asan assistant before the 2014-15 season. He spent the 2019-20 seasonas an assistant with Phoenix, then joined Memphis the followingyear.

At hisintroductory news conference, Rajakovic fielded a question inSerbian from a Serbian-language broadcaster based in Toronto. Thecity has a significant population of Serbian immigrants.

Rajakovicsaid it “means the world” to be the second Serbian-born coach inthe NBA after Igor Kokosov, who led the Suns in 2018-19.

“It meansso much to the Serbian community here in Toronto,” Rajakovic said.“A lot of people reached out to me. It means a lot to my familyback home and the whole basketball community in Serbia.”

Toronto’snew hire was introduced on the four-year anniversary of the team’sfirst and only NBA title. The Raptors beat Golden State in sixgames in the Finals in 2019, Nurse’s first season as coach.

“Let’s goand do it again,” Ujiri yelled to a small group of watching fans asthe event wrapped up. “We saw this thing happen last night (withDenver winning the NBA title). We’ve done it here before and we’regoing to do it again.”

Raptorsplayers Precious Achiuwa, Dalano Banton, Christian Koloko, JeffDowtin Jr., Ron Harper Jr. and Joe Wieskamp were on hand forRajakovic’s introduction.

Websterconfirmed Tuesday that guard Fred VanVleet has opted out of thefinal year of his contract and will become a free agent.

“Obviouslyon good terms with Fred, spoke to him yesterday,” Webster said. “Ithink that (decision) was just kind of expected, wasn’t reallyunexpected.”

Guard GaryTrent Jr. faces a similar decision on whether to opt out of thefinal year of his deal before the end of next week, Webstersaid.