In a surprising move just one week before the end of the regular season, the Denver Nuggets have decided to fire head coach Michael Malone according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Along with Malone, the team also fired General Manager Calvin Booth. This double departure is unprecedented in NBA history—especially at this point in the season.
Assistant coach David Adelman will take over as interim head coach and he is tipped to lead the Jokic teams through the playoffs.
If the firing of coach Taylor Jenkins in Memphis came as a surprise, what’s happening in Denver is truly without precedent in NBA history.
Just one week before the end of the regular season, the Nuggets have fired both head coach Michael Malone and General Manager Calvin Booth, shaking up the entire leadership of the team.
Assistant coach David Adelman will take over for Malone for the final games of the regular season, during which Denver will need to fight hard to avoid the play-in tournament—now a real possibility after losing four straight games.
Malone leaves Denver after ten years as head coach. During his time, he became the winningest coach in franchise history and led the team to its first-ever NBA title in 2023, defeating the Miami Heat in the Finals.
According to ESPN, which first broke the news, only one other coach in NBA history—Hubie Brown in the 1980-81 season—was fired this late in the year.
it’s still extremely rare for a team to fire both its head coach and GM so close to the end of the regular season—especially with several critical games left to secure a playoff spot.
Owner’s words and the reason: “A necessary step to stay competitive”
Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke explained the decision this way:
“As unfortunate as the timing is—especially since Coach Malone helped build the foundation of our championship team—this is a necessary step to make sure we can compete at the highest level right now. Our championship standards and goals remain in place for this season, and looking ahead, we want to keep building on the foundation Coach Malone created over his record-setting 10 years in Denver.”
