By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher
The Denver Nuggets have the fourth-best record in the Western Conference. Yet, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, the Nuggets fired head coach Michael Malone on Tuesday.
Malone had been the Nuggets head coach for the past decade. He arrived in Denver, Colorado in 2015.
Currently, the Nuggets have a 47-32 record. They are 17.5 games behind the West-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, who are 64-14.
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At press time, no interim head coach has been fired. The first game with the interim head coach will come on Wednesday night, as the Nuggets travel to Sacramento, California to play the Sacramento Kings.
“This decision was not made lightly and was evaluated very carefully, and we do it only with the intention of giving our group the best chance at competing for the 2025 NBA Championship and delivering another title to Denver and our fans everywhere,” Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke said in a statement. “While the timing of this decision is unfortunate, as Coach Malone helped build the foundation of our now championship level program, it is a necessary step to allow us to compete at the highest level right now. Championship level standards and expectations remain in place for the current season, and as we look to the future, we look forward to building on the foundations laid by Coach Malone over his record-breaking 10-year career in Denver.
“There is no amount of gratitude that we can properly convey to his contributions since he joined our franchise in 2015. It is with our utmost respect that we would like to thank Coach Malone for the most successful decade in Nuggets history, setting the all-time wins record and helping deliver Denver our first championship.”
Malone is fired with three games left in the regular season. Charania says on X that this is tied for the latest coaching change in NBA history, per ESPN Research, matching Hubie Brown in 1980-81.
The interim head coach will lead the team against the Kings on Wednesday, April 9th. Then, again, at home, on April 11th, against the Memphis Grizzlies.
Their regular season finale comes on Sunday, April 13th, on the road against the Houston Rockets.
According to OptaStats, the Nuggets are averaging 31.0 assists and 120.7 points per game. No team in NBA history has finished a season with such high marks in those two categories.
As the Nuggets head coach, Malone was 471-327 in the regular season. He also was 44-36 in the postseason.
During the 2022-23 season, Malone guided the Nuggets to their first NBA Championship. They dominated the Miami Heat in the NBA Finals, winning the series 4-1.
With the Nuggets, Malone was the Western Conference Coach of the Month twice. He won the Western Conference Coach of the Month in April during the 2020-21 season.
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Then, he won it again, as the Western Conference Coach of the Month, during the 2022-23 season in January.
Once the season is over, Malone will be a hot commodity if he chooses to coach again next season. It’ll be his third head coaching stop, wherever he chooses to go, as he spent one season as the Sacramento Kings head coach before being fired and landing on his feet with the Nuggets.
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