We are fast approaching a full year since the Denver Nuggets fired Michael Malone as the team’s head coach. The decision blindsided fans and experts, considering Malone helped lead the Nuggets to a championship in 2023. A move of this magnitude couldn’t have happened without the face of the franchise, Nikola Jokic’s knowledge; at least that’s what the consensus was. The Serbian superstar has remained quiet about all of it for the most part until now.
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Firing a longtime head coach is one thing, but the timing the Nuggets chose to do it was what truly made the decision shocking. Malone and general manager Calvin Booth were both relieved of their duties with only three games left before the playoffs. Assistant coach David Adelman then received a promotion as the team’s head coach.
Malone was by far the most successful head coach in franchise history. Although the move seemed abrupt, owner Josh Kroenke had been planning the decision for months. The final dominio was a special conversation with the best player on the team, Nikola Jokic.
“He comes up to me and says: ‘What do you think, should we fire the coach?’ The decision had basically already been made. This was about five games before the playoffs,” Jokic revealed on the X&O’s Chat podcast.
Jokic has done his best to stay out of the inner workings of team management. He allows the front office and ownership to act of their own volition. Regardless, firing the head coach will certainly have a direct impact on Jokic, especially since he was close with Malone.
The two shared a relationship, but it wasn’t like Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich. Jokic understood the business of the game but was also wary of the timing, which is why he issued a level-headed response to Kroenke.
‘Maybe you should wait?’ And he asked me: ‘What do you want to see happen? Do you want the team to wake up? Do you want to see if the coach can handle it? What’s your idea?’ I said: ‘I think you’ve already answered your own question,” Jokic added.
At that point, Jokic understood the damage had already been done. It didn’t help that Malone had reportedly lost hold of the locker room before his eventual firing. In the initial report from ESPN’s Tim McMahon and Ramona Shelburne, a team source shared details regarding the unpleasant team environment.
“Everybody in the organization was miserable,” a team source said. “That’s what Josh felt. It’s a bad vibe. You can’t operate like that. He felt that if he removed those two people, everybody could just focus on doing their job. Change needed to happen.”
The Nuggets haven’t missed Malone’s presence much since moving on though. They went toe-to-toe with the eventual NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round, which went on for seven games. It didn’t work out in the end but that unfortunate end to the 2025 season has fueled a rejuvenated group.
Denver currently sits at the sixth seed with a 39-25 record. Although they aren’t as high in the standings as they would like, they still have a legitimate chance to make it out of the Western Conference. Injuries have created major setbacks throughout the season, but they are becoming fully healthy at the perfect time.
