Michael Malone's Firing Reportedly 'Surprised' Nuggets Players Ahead of NBA Playoffs
The Denver Nuggets shocked the NBA world on Tuesday when they fired head coach Michael Malone with just three games left in the regular season, and the players were just as stunned as fans.
ESPN's Shams Charania reported the firing left players "shocked."
"Everyone was shocked by the timing of this," Charania said. "That included Michael Malone, Calvin Booth themselves. The players, I'm told, had a meeting where Josh Kroenke addressed them after the dismissal. He decided to flip the culture, didn't want to wait. He wanted to inject some life into this team going into the playoffs... Now that he's fired after 10 years, it's certainly stunning for the Nuggets, something this roster is now going to have to deal with and recover from."
The firing of Malone comes as the Nuggets sit in fourth place in the Western Conference at 47-32. While they've had success for most of the year, they've lost their last four games despite outstanding play from Nikola Jokić, who has averaged 45 points, 12.3 rebounds and 10.7 assists in his last three outings.
Though Denver is in fourth place in the West, it's just a half-game ahead of the eighth-placed Memphis Grizzlies, meaning the play-in tournament and a possible playoff absence is well within reason for the Nuggets.
Malone, who had been at the helm since the 2015-16 season, helped turn Denver into a perennial contender and coached the team to its first championship in franchise history in 2023. His 471 wins are the most of any coach in Nuggets history.
But Denver's success has been overshadowed by reported tensions between Malone and Booth, who the team announced will not have his contract extended after this season. ESPN's Ohm Youngmisuk reported after the firing that tensions were growing between the two sides at the start of the season and had turned into a "cold war."
Josh Kroenke, president of the Nuggets, said the "decision was not made lightly" and came "with the intention of giving our group the best chance at competing for the 2025 NBA Championship."
With Malone gone, lead assistant David Adelman will take over as interim head coach. Adelman has been with Denver since 2017 but has never held head coaching duties for the Nuggets or any other NBA teams.
While he's armed with a talented roster highlighted by an MVP candidate, Adelman has a tall task ahead of him following Tuesday's shocking firing of Malone.
