While the timing of the ownership’s decision to clean house in Denver was utterly shocking, the moves themselves were not. After a great ten-year run, the Nuggets fired head coach Michael Malone on Tuesday, the winningest coach in franchise history who led them to their only title in 2023.
But that’s not all, the Nuggets also decided to move on from GM Calvin Booth who had been calling the shots since 2002 and also presided over that championship. The news came out of left field as the Nuggets have just three games left in the regular season before, hopefully, a playoff run.
These moves are entirely unprecedented for any team so late in the season, let alone for a team sitting in fourth place in the conference, just two seasons removed from winning a championship. But as the dust begins to settle, reports are starting to come out that shed some light on these stunning firings.
Relationship between Malone and Booth became toxic
It was no secret that Malone and Booth didn’t exactly see eye to eye, but apparently, we didn’t realize just how toxic their relationship become. Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo! Sports reported that the two “never liked each other, rarely spoke, and talked behind each other’s backs.”
Matt Moore of the Action Network added in a report that the rift got so bad that people within the organization had to take sides. He stated that “Basketball operations staff felt they couldn’t talk to one side or the other without being branded as one of those, leading to many people caught in the middle, untrusted by either side, just wanting to do their jobs.”
This is no way for two leaders of a franchise to interact and it was clearly creating a toxic environment behind the scenes that was trickling down to every level of the organization. Changes had to be made and rather than pick a side, ownership chose to simply rid themselves of both parties.
Malone refused to play certain players out of spite for Booth
The tension got so bad between Booth and Malone that some sources believe that roster moves and lineup decisions were made, almost out of spite. Booth was obviously heavily invested in guys like Jalen Pickett and Zeke Nnaji, who Malone constantly buried in favor of vets like DeAndre Jordan, Reggie Jackson, and Russell Westbrook.
The Athletic specifically reported that Booth was “dismayed” that Malone chose to go with Westbrook down the stretch in recent games instead of giving Pickett a chance. Both sides were being petty and were not fully operating in a way that was best for the franchise.
While this all feels unceremonious and somewhat harsh, the Kroenkes felt that it had to happen. We’ll see how the rest of this season plays out; maybe these moves will spark the players and they’ll rally around interim head coach David Adelman to go on a run.
Or perhaps the team will completely peter out and their season will be over within a week or two. That would almost certainly lead to even more, and possibly bigger changes this offseason. One thing is clear, anything is now on the table. Buckle up, we are in store for one of the wildest summers in the history of the Nuggets.