Nurse, in his second year on the job, led the Raptors to a 46-18 record before the 2019-20 season was suspended March 11 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The public service announcement, released Saturday night, features Raptors coaches and players directing Americans to the website FVAP.gov to register for an absentee ballot.

All of the NBA's coach of the year candidates can make a solid case to win the honour, but none have faced the adversity the Toronto Raptors head coach has faced this season.

Canada's national men's basketball team will play an Olympic qualifying exhibition game in Hamilton this summer.

On Saturday, the Raptors were rewarded for their historic NBA championship run by winning the team of the year award from The Canadian Press for 2019 in a slam dunk.

"He showed me the NHL and he did a great job every day. It's a tough time for him and his family and I certainly feel for him."

The Toronto Raptors will get the opportunity to celebrate the team's first-ever championship before they tip off to open the season Tuesday against the Pelicans.

The defending NBA champions will meet with the media on Saturday before heading to Quebec City for training camp.

``Everybody's excited and it was really good to see her take the charge and kind of re-assert herself at the end, it was great. She's got some swag,'' said Toronto Raptors coach Nick Nurse of Bianca Andreescu, who became the first Canadian to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Along with Andrew Wiggins of the Minnesota Timberwolves, who was already ruled out, several other prominent Canadian players won't play for Canada.