NEW YORK – Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse and his staff have earned the spot to coach Team Giannis in the 2020 NBA All-Star Game, which will be played on Sunday, Feb. 16 at 8 p.m. ET at the United Center in Chicago.

With tonight’s 105-92 victory over the Detroit Pistons, the Raptors (35-14, .714) clinched the best record in the Eastern Conference through games played on Sunday, Feb. 2 among the 14 teams with a head coach eligible for the 2020 NBA All-Star Game.  The Milwaukee Bucks’ Mike Budenholzer is ineligible because he served as a head coach in last year’s NBA All-Star Game.

Each NBA All-Star Game head coach will lead the team that includes the captain from the same conference.  Nurse and his staff will coach the All-Star team captained by Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo.  Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel and his staff previously earned the spot to coach the All-Star team captained by their own player, LeBron James.

Nurse is in his second season as the Raptors’ head coach after spending five seasons as an assistant coach with Toronto.  As a rookie NBA head coach last season, he led Toronto to a 58-24 record and its first NBA championship.

Before joining the Raptors, Nurse spent six seasons as a head coach in the NBA G League.  Nurse guided the Rio Grande Valley Vipers and the Iowa Energy to one NBA G League title each, making him the only head coach to win championships in both the NBA and the NBA G League.

The 69^th NBA All-Star Game will air live on TNT and ESPN Radio in the United States and reach fans in more than 200 countries and territories in more than 40 languages.