Wake Forest’s men's basketball coaching staff is whole again.

The program announced Wednesday afternoon that Demetris Nichols has been hired as an assistant coach. Nichols is a former Syracuse star who most recently was on the staff of the Toronto Raptors.

“Demetris Nichols brings a vast array of experience to our staff ranging from playing in the NBA to coaching in the NBA,” coach Steve Forbes said through a news release. “He was highly recommended by Nick Nurse, who coached Demetris in the G-League and hired him this past year as a player development coach with the Toronto Raptors and as an assistant coach with the Raptor’s 905 G-League team.”

Forbes and Nurse have a friendship spanning decades; Nurse was fired by the Raptors after the end of the NBA’s regular season.

Nichols spent one season at Syracuse as a graduate assistant before his year with the Raptors.

“Coach Forbes and I go way back, when Syracuse lost to Texas A&M in the NCAA tournament when he was an assistant coach,” Nichols said through a news release. “Over the years, we have crossed paths several times and have some mutual friends.

“When this opportunity came up, we reconnected and knew that our basketball philosophy aligned. Winners want to work with winners.”

Nichols steps into a vacancy that was created when Brooks Savage, who came to Wake Forest with Forbes from East Tennessee State, became head coach at ETSU.

“Everyone I spoke to in the NBA, the G-League, and at Syracuse raved about how much the players respect Coach Nichols and how dedicated he was to their development on and off the court,” Forbes said in the release.