MPJ Says Nuggets Didn't Expect Michael Malone's Firing and Reveals Kroenke's Message

Following the shocking firing of head coach Mike Malone earlier this week, the Denver Nuggets managed to bounce back and end their four-game losing streak with a 124-116 win over the Sacramento Kings on Wednesday night.

After the victory, Nuggets swingman Michael Porter Jr. was asked about the team's reaction to Malone's firing, and he admitted that the players were all caught off-guard by the decision and are still getting used to life without him.

"It's a big change, Coach Malone has been my head coach ever since I got to the NBA," Porter told reporters at the 0:28 mark. "Obviously, it was a crazy day, none of us expected it, none of us really know how to handle something like that."

Porter, who scored 21 points in Wednesday's win, added that Nuggets team president Josh Kroenke "was amazing as the leader of the organization" and revealed his message to the team after Malone was dismissed less than a week before the end of the regular season.

"Josh said to just get back to the principles of what makes the Nuggets the Nuggets, which is to have fun," Porter said. "He said that he saw that we weren't having fun and he saw that we weren't playing as hard as we could, so he wanted to come in here and re-establish that as the basis of our culture, along with a couple other things."

After improving to 48-32 in their first game under interim head coach David Adelman, the Nuggets are ranked fourth in the Western Conference but are still fighting for playoff positioning. Denver will try to keep the momentum going when it hosts the Memphis Grizzlies (47-32) on Friday in the penultimate game of the 2024-25 campaign.