The Denver Nuggets have parted ways with head coach Michael Malone and announced they will not be re-signing general manager Calvin Booth. Long-time assistant David Adelman will serve as the team’s interim head coach.
“This decision was not made lightly and was evaluated very carefully, and we do it only with the intention of giving our group the best chance at competing for the 2025 NBA Championship and delivering another title to Denver and our fans everywhere,” wrote Josh Kroenke, the president of the Denver Nuggets and the vice chairman of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, in a statement. “While the timing of this decision is unfortunate, as Coach Malone helped build the foundation of our now championship-level program, it is a necessary step to allow us to compete at the highest level right now. Championship-level standards and expectations remain in place for the current season, and as we look to the future, we look forward to building on the foundations laid by Coach Malone over his record-breaking 10-year career in Denver.”
Days before the NBA playoffs, the Nuggets dismissed Malone in a meeting today. Malone is the winningest coach in franchise history since being hired in 2015 – and led the Nuggets to the 2023 NBA championship. https://t.co/9MeAjEuAQo
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 8, 2025
This move comes with just three games left in the regular season for Denver. Prior to this announcement, the Nuggets had lost four straight games. Denver, which has already clinched a playoff spot, is currently slated to be the fourth seed in the Western Conference and is only 1.5 games back from the three-seed.
After being hired by the Nuggets in 2015, Malone accumulated a 471-327 regular-season record as well as a 44-36 playoff record over a span of ten seasons. He famously led the Nuggets to their first NBA Championship in 2023 when Denver beat the Miami Heat four games to one.
A shock to the league and NBA fans
This is an absolutely wild move from a team that has been in the championship conversation for several years. In fact, this is tied for the latest coaching change during a season in NBA history, according to ESPN Research. The last time something like this happened was in the 1980-81 season when the Atlanta Hawks fired head coach Hubie Brown with three games left in the regular season. I have literally NEVER seen anything like this at the NBA level.
I guess I can maybe understand the firing of Calvin Booth. The Nuggets’ roster hasn’t gotten much better since he took over as the team’s GM ahead of the 2022-23 season, when they won the NBA Championship. It also doesn’t help that he and Denver failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension before the start of this season. However, I don’t think that justifies firing the guy who helped build this team into a championship contender and winner.
I understand that the Nuggets are in the midst of a four-game losing streak, but that does not warrant this type of decision. 27 of the NBA’s 30 teams have experienced a losing streak of at least four games at some point during this season. Of those 27 franchises, only two had fired their coach this season: the Memphis Grizzlies and the Sacramento Kings. Unlike the Nuggets, neither one of those squads is two years removed from an NBA title.
NBA Championship coaches since 2019:
2019 Raptors: Nick Nurse (Fired 2023)
2020 Lakers: Frank Vogel (Fired 2022)
2021 Bucks: Mike Budenholzer (Fired 2023)
2022 Warriors: Steve Kerr
2023 Nuggets: Mike Malone (Fired 2025)
2024 Celtics: Joe Mazzulla
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) April 8, 2025
Considering the circumstances and the fact that Malone is only the third coach who has been fired in the middle of this season, I have to assume there must be some issues going on behind the scenes. That is the only justifiable reason to basically derail a playoff team’s hopes of winning a championship. And that’s exactly what’s going on in Denver. Ownership is torpedoing the Nuggets’ playoff hopes because 11 days (when the NBA Playoffs begin) is not enough time for any head coach, regardless of experience, to implement their program and game plan, let alone a guy who has never been a head coach in the National Basketball Association.
I can only assume one thing is going on here: Nuggets superstar center Nikola Jokić did not want to work with Malone and Booth anymore. I really don’t understand why these decisions were made if the team’s reasoning is anything but that because these are genuinely shocking and franchise-altering moves. Even if that is the case, I don’t understand why ownership couldn’t have waited until after the playoffs to make these choices. I simply can’t comprehend these announcements. It is mind-boggling.
