Michael Malone breaks silence on Nuggets firing with revealing comments

When Michael Malone recently appeared on SiriusXM NBA Radio’s “The Starting Lineup” with Frank Isola and Brian Scalabrine, he didn’t hold back. Asked whether he’d like to get back into coaching, the former Nuggets head coach admitted: 

“In my heart, I’m a coach … it’s definitely something I’d love to get back in. I still have a bad taste in my mouth with how things ended in Denver, and I’d love to go out on my own terms.”

His comments make sense. But when he went on to emphasize the importance of working with people you care about, trust, respect and who are all pulling in the same direction, he indirectly explained precisely why his championship tenure in the Mile High City ended in such spectacular dysfunction. 

“What I’ve learned over my many years in this league is how important it is to go to work every day with people you care about, trust, respect and who are all pulling in the same direction," Malone continued. “So, when I have a chance to go back into the NBA, I just want to make sure I’m working with a group of people that are like-minded, share a common vision and are willing to do whatever it takes to make that vision become a reality.” 

For Nuggets fans who lived through the shocking end to the Malone-Calvin Booth partnership just months ago, that line underscored what went wrong, essentially confirming every behind-the-scenes report about the toxic dysfunction that ultimately cost both him and Booth their jobs.  

Competing Visions or Division? 

Less than two years after Malone guided Denver to its first NBA championship in franchise history, the organization fired both him and ex-GM Booth with just days left in the regular season, sending shockwaves through the league. The timing — just two years removed from guiding Denver to its first NBA championship in franchise history — was brutal. The reasoning, however, became clearer as details emerged. 

The relationship between Malone and Booth had deteriorated into something resembling a cold war. He and Booth weren’t fired because of one bad week of basketball. They were let go because their partnership collapsed under the weight of competing visions for Denver’s future. 

Booth, the architect of Denver's championship roster, wanted to develop the younger players his front office had acquired. He believed in building depth. He thought long-term about roster construction, understanding that Nikola Jokic's prime years required sustainable success, not just immediate gratification. 

Malone, on the other hand, prioritized immediate competitiveness over development. Win now. Trust veterans. Maintain rotation stability. It’s a laudable philosophy but one that increasingly clashed with Booth's broader organizational strategy and the realities of roster construction under the league’s current CBA. 

Reports suggested that not only did Malone and Booth argue over roster philosophy, but the conflict seeped into who played, how minutes were distributed, which voices were heard in meetings and more. That’s the “bad taste” to which Malone was referring. 

When you’re managing a three-time MVP’s championship window, every decision carries enormous weight. And instead of alignment, the franchise faced division. 

Team Culture in the Face of Organizational Warfare

These fundamental differences about how to shepherd the most important franchise player in Nuggets history through his prime years detrimentally impacted real people trying to do their jobs while navigating an increasingly hostile work environment created by two powerful men who could no longer function in the same organization. 

And Malone’s radio comments about wanting to work with people he can “care about, trust, respect” might take on a deeper meaning. Often considered buzzwords about team culture, that verbiage feels to me like an admission about what might have been missing in Denver during the regular season’s final months. 

Reading Between the Lines

So, when Malone says he wants his next stop to be with like-minded people who share a common vision, you can almost hear him circling back to the conclusion of his Nuggets experience in his head. His tenure in the Mile High City ended not because of poor coaching but because he and the front office no longer trusted each other enough to move in the same direction together. 

Malone framed it as wanting to go out on his own terms. And honestly, he’s earned that shot in my mind. His record in Denver speaks for itself: a culture reset when he arrived, steady growth every season and, of course, guiding the franchise to its first championship. Hopefully, his emphasis on finding “like-minded people” who share a “common vision” suggests he understands the role he played in Denver’s late-season collapse. 

For me, and other Nuggets fans, Malone’s comments serve as a painful reminder of what might have been. Here was the “Lakers’ daddy,” the coach who delivered the franchise’s first championship, working with a GM who assembled the roster that made reaching the NBA’s mountain top possible. Together, they should have been building a dynasty around the game’s most unique superstar. 

Instead, their inability to maintain a working relationship cost the organization both of its championship architects and potentially wasted precious years of the Joker’s prime.

Wishing Malone Well — When Not Playing Us

As Nuggets fans, we can appreciate what Malone accomplished during his decade in Denver while also acknowledging that his and Booth’s departures, however messy, were probably inevitable given the circumstances. 

When he does land his next coaching position — and proves he can work collaboratively with his next front office — we’ll root for his success. Just not when he’s coaching against our beloved Nuggets. 

The hope in Denver is that the Nuggets’ next leadership regime can learn from this organizational dysfunction and prioritize the kind of collaborative culture that championship teams require. Jokic’s prime, unfortunately, won’t last forever. And the franchise can’t afford another internal civil war.