Nuggets' Malone, Booth Reportedly 'Never Liked Each Other,' Were in 'Cold War'

The Denver Nuggets' decision to part ways with head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth less than two weeks before the postseason reportedly came amid a rift between the two men.

Yahoo Sports NBA analyst Kevin O'Connor wrote Tuesday that "Booth and Malone never liked each other, rarely spoke, and talked behind each other's backs."

Meanwhile, ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk reported that the Nuggets were expected to make a change regarding either or both of Booth and Malone this offseason due what was described as a "cold war" between the two.

The Nuggets fired Malone on Tuesday and announced that Booth's contract would not be renewed. Denver holds the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference with three games remaining in the regular season.

The reports of the rift between Malone and Booth were backed by The Athletic's Jon Krawczynski, who described the split as "open secret in the NBA going back to before the start of the season."

SNY's Ian Begley expanded on the split between the franchise's coaching staff and front office, writing that Nuggets coaches have been "frustrated by, among other things, recent front office-led additions to the coaching staff."

Begley added that other members of the Nuggets' front office were "unnerved by short tenure of one Booth’s significant front office hires."

"Ownership spent significant money to bring in an exec Booth wanted only to see the exec depart after a brief stint with the team," Begley wrote.

Forbes' Evan Sidery also reported that Malone wanted the Nuggets to re-sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, but that Booth decided to let him walk and join the Orlando Magic in free agency last offseason.

After parting ways with Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown last summer, the Nuggets have given bigger roles to young players like Christian Braun, Peyton Watson and Julian Strawther.

Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard wrote that it was "known around the league that Malone and the front office had different opinions about the young players brought in recently."

Josh Kroenke, vice chairman of Nuggets holding company Kroenke Sports & Entertainment, said in a statement that firing Malone before the end of the regular season was "a necessary step to allow us to compete at the highest level right now."

Kroenke meanwhile thanked Booth for his role in the Nuggets winning the first championship in franchise history in 2023.

Malone has coached the Nuggets since 2015. Booth was hired as assistant general manager in 2017 and promoted to general manager in 2020.

The Nuggets promoted David Adelman to the head coaching position for the remainder of the season.