The NBA world is still reeling from the shocking news out of Denver on Tuesday as the Nuggets cleaned house, firing coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth with less than a week left in the regular season.
It’s an unprecedented move, especially for a team that’s tied for third place in the Western Conference and has championship aspirations. The Nuggets’ season isn’t over, but it feels like the team is suddenly starting from scratch.
Searching for a new coach and GM is a huge undertaking and endeavor and it’s not like the Nuggets want to rebuild and start from scratch. They are going to want to hit the ground running next season and there will be championship expectations in place.
Nuggets main objective must be keeping Nikola Jokic happy
As vital as it is for the Nuggets to hire the proper replacements for Malone and Booth, every single move is in the context of Nikola Jokic’s timeline. The 30-year-old reigning MVP has been the best basketball player alive for several years and is squarely in his prime, arguably having the best season of his career.
A big element of these firings is the prevailing sentiment that the team has let Jokic down. For him to be playing this well and dominating to the extent he is, and the team to be battling just to avoid the play-in tournament, is a borderline disaster and clearly, ownership felt the same way.
To take it a step further, Jokic has looked visibly frustrated this season more than ever, and apparently, it has spilled over to the locker room. There has been no indication that Jokic wants to leave the Nuggets or that he demanded change, but it’s naive to pretend that he’s oblivious to the things happening around him and how it impacts his career and his legacy.
Could Nikola Jokic ask for a trade?
Jokic is the sun, moon, and stars of the solar system that is the Denver Nuggets. Seeing him leave the organization would be an apocalyptic event. But he has to be looking around and thinking that he deserves better.
In his career, he has never played with another All-Star or All-Defense player. His team is stuck in salary cap hell, overpaying players who aren’t quite good enough, they’ve whiffed on the margins and traded almost all of their draft capital.
The cupboards are bare and even a full rebuild around Jokic is not going to be easy. Seeing the Mavericks trade Jokic’s good friend Luka Doncic may have him questioning his own mortality and at least thinking about the possibility of playing somewhere other than Denver.
So far, it doesn’t seem like we’ve reached that point and Jokic has said he hopes to stay in Denver for his whole career, but things can change. Now, the only NBA coach he has ever played for is gone and there is no guarantee that upcoming changes will be positive ones.
First and foremost, Nuggets brass needs to have a sit down with Jokic and find out what he wants and what is important to him. Then, they need to do everything in their power to make it happen and to keep him satisfied. Because if this goes off the rails any further, he is going to have to consider a new home and frankly, he would be completely justified in doing so.