For years, the Toronto Raptors have prided themselves on being an NBA organization more open than others to the influx of European players and front office personnel.

They have employed players from around the globe; current team president, Masai Ujiri, is the first in his job to hail from Africa; and Maurizio Gherardini was the right-hand man to Bryan Colangelo during mid-2000s.

That movement has now trickled into the coaching staff, and the organization is so cognizant of what Sergio Scariolo means and has accomplished as the head coach of the Spanish national team that the Raptors are giving him an unprecedented opportunity to continue his international work.

After the Raptors host the Washington Wizards at Scotiabank Arena on Friday, Scariolo will hop a plane back to Europe to coach Spain in two important FIBA World Cup qualification games Nov. 29 and Dec. 2.

It is thought to be the first time any NBA team has allowed a working member of a coaching staff to leave mid-season for qualification games, and the Raptors have no concerns with letting Scariolo go.

“Actually the permission came basically the same time as my signing the new contract, so it speaks even better about them,” Scariolo said in a telephone interview from Orlando before the Raptors played there Tuesday night. “Without even myself working one hour on the floor, they had already given me this permission and I am really thankful.

“For sure, I will miss them more than how they will miss me but, at the same time, it’s a little nice for whole organization, the coach, the coaching staff and I hope it will not hurt that much.”

Scariolo’s history with the Spanish team is stunning and it’s no wonder that the president of the federation — former Raptors forward Jorge Garbajosa — would want Scariolo on the bench. Spain has been a global power for years under the 51-year-old Italian-born Scariolo, winning a silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics, a bronze at the 2016 Rio Games and EuroBasket gold medals in 2009, 2011 and 2015 and a bronze in 2017.

Scariolo has also won two championships, a coach of the year award in the Spanish league, an Italian league title and coach of the year award early in his career.

By any coaching metric from any league with any team anywhere on Earth, his accomplishments rank him among the best in the game.

Spain, which plays a road game in Turkey Nov. 29 and at home to Ukraine in the coming FIBA World Cup qualification window, leads its group with a 7-1 record and is a virtual lock to qualify for the 2019 World Cup. Turkey is second in the group at 6-2, Latvia third at 5-3 and Ukraine and Montenegro are tied for fourth at 4-4. The top three teams from the group automatically qualify for the World Cup and Spain likely needs only one more win to earn its berth.

But there are more important, longer-term goals that Scariolo is worried about that are part of the reason he’s headed back to Spain next week.

“We’re pretty close (to World Cup qualification) but we have, let’s say, even bigger motivation which is to keep second place in the world ranking, to have a good draw, to avoid the U.S. as long as we can during the World Cup road,” he said.

“This is a strong motivation, at least as strong as the need to qualify.”

Scariolo, who began his coaching career in Italy in 1989, won’t have time next week to use much of what he’s learned in a few months with an NBA club with his Spanish national team. But there are tricks he’s picking up, and tricks he’s imparting to Raptors head coach Nick Nurse as his assistant coach, that should pay off in the future.

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“This is day-by-day work, it doesn’t matter if it’s my national team or my previous Real Madrid or Milan or Moscow,” he said. “Any experience you have as a coach is something you keep growing yourself. It’s part of your experience, part of your knowledge, part of your expertise you bring to the next team.

“Nick is a great leader who is really able to find a balance. Lead the coaching staff and the team and also leave the room and space for all coaches to contribute and to help the team get better.”

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