The Denver Nuggets have shocked the NBA world by firing veteran head coach Michael Malone with just three games remaining in the regular season. Malone became the winningest coach in franchise history earlier this season and led the team to their first title in franchise history in 2023.
BREAKING: The Denver Nuggets have fired coach Michael Malone, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/bZoKRx6kgt
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 8, 2025
David Adelman will take over as interim coach for the rest of the season and the team will likely do a full search this offseason for the coach to lead the next era of Nuggets basketball.
The Nuggets have lost four games in a row and are now tied with five other teams in the loss column for spots 3-8 in the loaded Western Conference.
They're in serious jeopardy of falling into the play-in tournament and possibly worse. The Grizzlies made waves last week by firing Taylor Jenkins, and that was a shock. But this is far crazier than that. This is as crazy of a move as could be imagined in the NBA with the playoffs starting mere days from now.
Why did the Nuggets fire Michael Malone?
The Nuggets obviously weren't thrilled with the way last season ended and this season has been even worse. Still, this is a wild move for a team that's not even two years removed from winning a championship.
Rumors are that behind the scenes Malone and Calvin Booth didn't get along and they obviouslly haven't seen eye-to-eye on recent roster moves. Malone wanted vets, Booth wanted youth. Booth won that tug of war, but Malone has never fully embraced the youth movement and trusted the young players.
Beyond that, Chris Haynes reported that the team was unable to reach an extension with Booth before the season and he's on an expiring deal. This year was clearly a make-or-break year for the team and apparently it's broken.
They're getting out of ahead of an ugly playoff collapse by firing the coach and giving Adelman a chance to prove his mettle down the stretch. Adelman has interviewed for jobs in the past, so maybe Denver wanted to give him a shot before risking losing him.
So begins what is almost certain to be a crazy offseason for the Nuggets. The front office will be overhauled, the coaching staff will be overhauled, and the roster will almost certainly follow. It's astonishing to see this happen so late in the season, but there were a lot of problems going on behind the scene and the team wanted to get out ahead of them now rather than waiting.
In a statement from the team owners, Josh Kroenke stated, “While the timing of this decision is unfortunate, as Coach Malone helped build the foundation of our now championship level program, it is a necessary step to allow us to compete at the highest level right now. Championship level standards and expectations remain in place for the current season, and as we look to the future, we look forward to building on the foundations laid by Coach Malone over his record-breaking 10-year career in Denver.”
There will certainly be plenty more fallout from this wild situation and we'll have it all covered.