David Adelman is entering his first full season as the Denver Nuggets' head coach after spending the past several years with the team on Michael Malone's staff. The Nuggets named Adelman the interim head coach at the end of the 2024-25 regular season, following their abrupt firing of Malone and GM Calvin Booth, which sent shockwaves throughout the NBA.
The majority believed that Denver would struggle with such a big change at that point in the season, but the opposite happened. The Nuggets won the last three regular-season games, beat the Clippers in the first round, and took the Thunder to Game 7 of the semifinals before their season ended.
The timing wasn't ideal, but it helped salvage what looked to be an otherwise ugly end to the season in Denver.
Malone wasn't in the hot seat entering the start of last season. Nobody could've predicted that he would be fired in the way that he was. For as much as Malone did for the city (leading the Nuggets to their first-ever championship!), it was time for a change.
The Adelman Era is officially underway, and Denver will be better for it.
David Adelman proved he's the right coach for the Nuggets
Malone lost the locker room last season (subscription required), with Tony Jones and Sam Amick of The Athletic reporting that the coach's "choice to continue supporting Westbrook, despite the frustration he was causing on and off the floor, led to a loss of credibility among the team's key players." Westbrook declined his player option for the Nuggets in free agency over the summer. He's still on the market.
The Kroenkes didn't fire Malone solely because of the way he treated Westbrook, but that seems to have been a factor. Denver needed a change, and it needed one quickly, which led to Adelman finishing the season as the head coach.
It's not easy to take over in that kind of situation, especially for someone who had never served as a head coach before. Adelman had filled in for Malone during games previously, but this was a different scenario. It was a sink-or-swim moment for Adelman, and he did a whole lot more than tread water.
He wasn't a new voice in the locker room, but still, he handled the moment like a true professional. It was no surprise that the Nuggets named him their new head coach soon after the season ended.
Adelman couldn't be in a much better position, with the front office retooling the roster during the offseason. The vibe in Denver is entirely different from what it was in the past couple of seasons, and Adelman is a big part of that.