The vibes weren't high for the Denver Nuggets after losing four straight, but fans didn't expect Michael Malone and Calvin Booth to be fired with three regular-season games remaining. It was a shocking decision that had ripple effects throughout the league.
Malone's dismissal marked the second time in less than two weeks that a top-six team in the West was fired. The Grizzlies dismissed Taylor Jenkins on March 28, which was hard enough to believe. It turns out that Memphis' decision to do so led to Malone's firing.
Josh Kroenke said in an interview with Altitude TV on Tuesday that he wanted the team to get as much as possible out of the rest of the season, which meant the departures of Malone and Booth. Kroenke wants the Nuggets to have fun playing basketball again. His bet paid off in Game 1 of the post-Malone era, as Denver beat Sacramento, 124-116, on Wednesday.
The Nuggets will host the Grizzlies on Friday in their first home game since the news dropped. It's ironic, not only because it'll be a battle between the teams that made late-season coaching changes. It turns out that if it weren't for Memphis letting go of Jenkins, Malone might still be in Denver.
The Athletic reported on Thursday (subscription required) that the Kroenke family was "influenced by the Memphis Grizzlies' recent choice to fire head coach Taylor Jenkins." Like Memphis, the Kroenkes believed that moving on from Malone was the spark the Nuggets needed.
Grizzlies firing Jenkins influenced Nuggets' decision to dismiss Malone
There was more that went into Malone's firing -- such as Nikola Jokic's mounting frustration and the coach losing the locker room -- but the Kroenkes paid close attention to what happened in Memphis.
Josh Kroenke didn't want to watch the Nuggets continue on a freefall without trying to do something, and he felt the best decision was to let go of the head coach and GM. Memphis lost three straight after firing Jenkins, but has since won three consecutive games. The Grizzlies want to pick up a fourth-straight win on Friday in Denver, but it won't be easy. It seems like the Nuggets have a different vibe about them now.
It's important to remember that it's only been one game, but a win is a win. David Adelman has been in Denver since 2017, so it's not like it was a major coaching shift from Malone to him. It'll be interesting to see how the rest of the season plays out. Maybe the Nuggets truly are a different team than they were before Tuesday.