12:46pm: The Nuggets confirmed in a press release that both Malone and Booth have been let go.
“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,” Josh Kroenke said as part of a larger statement.
12:30pm: The Nuggets are firing head coach Michael Malone, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
Denver is also firing general manager Calvin Booth, according to Charania (Twitter link).
Malone was dismissed in a meeting earlier today, Charania reports. The 53-year-old helped Denver win its first NBA championship less than two years ago.
ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne hears that vice chairman Josh Kroenke informed Malone and Booth of the news this morning (Twitter link).
According to NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link), longtime assistant David Adelman will be the Nuggets’ interim head coach. Adelman has been the acting coach a few times in the past when Malone was unavailable.
The timing of the news is pretty shocking, primarily because there are only three regular season games remaining on Denver’s schedule. The Nuggets have dropped four straight games, including a dispiriting loss to Indiana on Sunday, and are in danger of falling into the play-in tournament.
Denver is currently 47-32, the No. 4 seed in the West, but sits only a half-game ahead of four other teams who have one fewer win and the same number of losses.
Malone had been the head coach of the Nuggets for nearly 10 years, having been hired in June of 2015. He is the organization’s all-time leader in wins, compiling a 471-327 record (.590 winning percentage) during the regular season and 44-36 mark in the playoffs (.550).
According to Charania (Twitter link), Malone’s ouster is tied for the latest coaching change in NBA history, matching Hubie Brown being let go by Atlanta back in 1980/81. Malone is the second longtime coach of a potential playoff team to be fired in the past two weeks, joining Taylor Jenkins, who was dismissed by Memphis.
While Malone was reportedly under contract through 2027, Booth was on an expiring deal. According to NBA insider Chris Haynes, Booth and the Nuggets failed to reach an agreement on a contract extension before the 2024/25 season began (Twitter link).
A former NBA player, Booth had been with the Nuggets for eight years, having been promoted to GM in 2020. Although he was not formally given the title of president of basketball operations, he had been atop the front office hierarchy since 2022, when former president Tim Connelly was hired away by the Timberwolves.
Multiple reports last year indicated that Malone and Booth often butted heads and had differing views on the best way to build around superstar center Nikola Jokic. Instead of keeping one or the other, the Nuggets have decided to part with both before the season concludes.
Forward Michael Porter Jr. acknowledged at beginning of the season that major changes could be in store if the Nuggets failed to win a championship in 2025. Surprisingly, the team decided to make some of those changes before even seeing how the rest of ’24/25 played out.
If they win a championship does he still get a ring?
They aren’t winning a championship if they decide to fire their coach with 5 games left in the season
Talk about some dysfunction behind the scenes
That’s why I said “if” genius. Like, “if” had some reading comprehension you would know that i didn’t claim nuggets would win it all. Even though they still could. Go say to Jokic face he isn’t winning nothing. I’ll wait.
I love these clowns who say “I’ll wait” like they’ve proven a point or something. You just make yourself sound like even more of an idiot.
That’s pretty rude and insulting. What did i say that was incorrect, if I’m such an idiot? Don’t be mad just because you don’t like me and I’m right.
Whatever you have to tell yourself to sleep at night.
I don’t sleep great actually since Helen left thanks for asking
1) who cares
2) “I’ll wait” (reading comprehension, lil bro)
3) yes you are
4) not mad, just laughing at you
5) who cares
6) no you’re not
Yeah I’ll wait for you to be as clever as you think you are. Because newsflash hot shot — your not
its “you’re”, not “your” – and my farts are more clever than anything you ever dreamed of, lil bro…so keep waiting while the world passes you by…bye bye now
Yes, you’re about as clever as a fart lol. Glad we agree on something :)
You don’t watch much sports; do you. Plenty of “favorites” and “no. 1” seeds have fallen. Injuries and hot streaks do happen in the playoffs.
Why would he not say that to Jokic’s face and what do you think Jokic would do about it? Lol. I would tell Jokic that with zero hesitation. I’m sure he’s well aware.
Jokic would send him into a coma with the flick of his pinky finger and we’d have to set up a hoops rumors gofundme to help his family with medical bills. And my donation would be very small because I told you so!
Jokic wouldn’t touch him because he’s not a psychopath who gets mad over little things like weird people on the internet. He would probably laugh. You goofies act like star athletes assault random people all the time. Unfortunately for your imagination, most of them are normal and don’t go around attacking people, whether that’s because they have morals or because they don’t want to get sued.
It wouldn’t be on the internet it’d be in person that’s my point. Reading levels have dipped to an all time low.
Plus Jokic is rich enough he can do whatever he wants without consequences like rumble with some nobody who makes finger paintings with hot cheeto dust in their mom’s basement. Takes one to know one…
“It wouldn’t be on the internet it’d be in person that’s my point. Reading levels have dipped to an all time low.”
And I addressed it as if it would be said in person. My reference to people on the internet being weirdos is 100% about your comment only. I guess you’re part of the reading levels you referred to, huh? It takes about a 3rd grade reading level to have the inference skills to understand what I was implying. Plus, I’m not sure how you think someone is going to get assaulted over the internet lmao so maybe re-read my comment… or just continue to fail at comprehension.
You’re acting like athletes don’t settle out of court or lose lawsuits all the time. Maybe you need to do more of that reading you referenced. There’s plenty of articles out there for you.
You think Jokic would simply laugh at an insult? Look what happened to markief morris. Plus if his brothers get involved it’s game over.
Yeah, I think you’re just going to have to admit your wrong on this one. Don’t mess with a literal giant unless you know of a beanstalk near by…and yeah, I READ that book
Yes, I absolutely believe that because Jokic dgaf, has a sense of humor, and isn’t a weirdo like you who feels the need to take offense to everything.
If you feel that 10 lines is book-length, you may want to work on your attention span, too! I guess it also suggests that you’ve never read a book, which makes sense.
I just said I read jack and beanstalk aka a book. Look who has reading comprehension now…
Ill see you in the playoffs…
You emphasized the wrong word if you were trying to clearly suggest that you read “Jack and the Beanstalk” lmao. You’re supposed to emphasize “that,” not “read.”
Work on your writing while you’re working on your reading skills, maybe you’ll be easier to understand, too!
Well i didn’t watch the movie
You never know how a team will respond. They could fall flat on there face, or excel.
that’s an insane move with playoffs practically here. did Malone dirtay
based on this move, I’d say “not a chance in hell”.
Tough gig if 47-32 gets you fired. Gets you a parade in Chicago.
Blatt got one with Cleveland. After he initially declined to take it.
This is so interesting. Could this move be linked to a potential Kai Jones signing in Denver??
Joker to the Lakers for Lebron
What if this causes Jokic to want a trade?
Would he work well with heat culture?
If we know how rigged this league is for Lakers/Celtics, I think this trade, no matter how obviously unfair, will happen.
Lebron has a no trade clause. That means it won’t happen because Lebron would never.
every culture, amigo..(sam elliot voice)
What in the actual hell?
Maybe coach and GM are fighting
Too early to speculate. I’m going to let the rest of the guys in here do that. I am just shocked. Very perplexing move given the playoffs are in about a week to ten days away.
Makes no sense to do it with playoffs a week away just wait until the season is over.
Rip the band aid off now. Let the playoffs starting dominate the news cycle. Lot of teams are gonna be looking for coaches in June. Might as well get a head start like the others.
It isn’t too early to speculate. It’s been reported many times over that Booth and Malone did not get along or share a vision on how to build the team.
Well, they fired both, so who knows.
Eh?
Eh is right. What are they doing? No team wins every single game ever gee…
All of these Western Conference teams trying to one-up each other for craziest moves…
Even Nico is confused by this one!
I thought Taylor Jenkins being fired makes no sense, but how does Malone get fired after 10 seasons in Denver when he’s not doing bad???
He had all of those mediocre years at the start but they didn’t fire him, now they fire him when he’s still making the playoffs?
And unlike Jenkins, Malone has the only championship in team history!
Malone is a good locker room management guy but a poor x’s and o’s coach and he rode on Jokic’ coattails a long time. It was time. Jokic himself has been playing angry the past few games (at his own team) and it wouldn’t surprise me if his management had some words with ownership.
It’s hard to be a good X’s and O’x coach when the GM gives you nothing to really worth with. The team building from a GM standpoint seems pretty terrible.
Hindsight is always 20/20 but even so, you have to question the timing with this one
Most NBA coaches *are* poor X’s and O’s guys, really. I mean, cmon. They’ve won a championship, got pushed around last year by the Wolves in the playoffs but still had a nice season this year. And you’re right, he seemed well liked
Just odd timing at this point
I can’t believe it’s looking like it was all ownership and no Jokic with this one
But I also couldn’t believe it was all ownership and Nico Harrison for trading doncic, what should I be surprised about these days???
@Seam
I strongly disagree. Playing defense is largely about effort. But they have a deep rotation that can go 8 deep with 6 double digit scorers. They go 50/38/77 as a team. Injuries to Murray and his inability to mature his game hurt. Gordon missed a lot too. From what I heard the team was getting tired of his gruff handling which would negate the idea that he was a good locker room guy. From a strategy standpoint, he seemed predictable.
Then it was time before the season or months ago, not days away from the end of the regular season. Malone is the same guy now as he was then. Doing it know almost seems spiteful.
what is going on in the west
Why would they do that days before the start of the playoffs?.
What in the world…
Apparently the Nugs liked the shock value of the Luka trade that outside of trading Jokic, the firing would create such buzz
What a moronic move.
First round exit ahead
Luka paved the way for superstars getting traded for each other and Malone and Jenkins paved the way for getting fired right before the playoffs
If Joker wins the title this year he HAS to go into the GOAT convo. He has no help at all. He is going to ask for a trade to the Lakers for Lebron+Bronny, and that will happen.
Please tell me that trade was not serious…
That trade would only be slightly dumber than the one they already fleeced Dallas with stealing Luka for an always injured unibrow. Firing Malone this close to the playoffs is the 2nd dumbest move behind the Luka trade for Dallas.
Did you think Luka for AD was serious?
Imagine it being 2025 and you still don’t know how the NBA league itself relentlessly favors the Lakers/Celtics in every aspect of the game? Skill issue on your end.
Jokic can ask, but the Lakers is a no chance scenario.
The Celtics would be more likely, none of them have no trade clauses in their contract like Lebron does.
The trade happened. So yes it was serious. Weather it was idiotic or smart or fixed is mute point cause it happened. If I had to pick where the league fixed his next team between the 2 you think hes destined for I’d love to see Jokic in Boston.
If playoff teams are firing their good coaches, makes you wonder why the owners of those crappy lottery teams are NOT firing their crappy coaches? #bizarroworld
Because nobody anywhere thought the Wizards would be good. Bad teams are meeting expectations….
Soo…..Blazers GM gets an extension and playoff coaches get fired. Got it.
Everybody else is paying the price for that horrible Michael Porter Junior contract given by Tim Connelly. Although I have a feeling that Coach Malone had a big say in that extension.
Anyway, I’d really enjoy watching Jokic and Wemby play together
MPJ’s contract is fine. It’s Murray’s that killed them.
Super Wow.
Anytime you have a Josh running a multi-billion dollar corporation, you’re in safe hands.
I would like to rescind my defamation of Joshes. As more news has come out, it was clearly Stan that made this decision, and it appears to be based on more than the usual whims of billionaires (the reported dysfunction). How much more is up for debate.
He then pawned off the tough work on Josh. Fair is fair!
Not trying to paint Jokic in a bad light, but I feel like the only reason to make this decision at this point is because Jokic and Malone/Booth butted heads over something and ownership tried to get ahead of dealing with it rather than let it linger for a few more weeks. No other player should have as much influence and there’s nothing useful that could be gained making a coaching change this late (e.g. promoting an assistant coach to interim to see if they can handle the job).
Unless the relationship was beyond repair, can’t really see why you make this move now instead of after the playoffs even if you had planned to fire both after the season.
With a tough schedule and a fired HC, the Nuggets lose their last 3 and become a playin team.
The Lakers play OKC and Houston. They also face a Mavs team with AD, possibly, looking for revenge? They could go 1-3.
So, Clippers take the 3 spot. Warriors and T-wolves in the 4/5 slot. Lakers get the 6th seed.
Nah. Lakers will win at least 2 and stay in the 3rd seed
I didn’t look at the tie-breakers. It pretty much is the Lakers to lose. Darn
Wtf is happening to contending tms firing great coaches ??
WOW!!! Based on the timing, the track record of success and no real noise that there were issues internally between the players and the staff makes this one of the most shocking dismissals I have ever seen.
Malone is the same as Rick Carlisle, Doc Rivers and Budenholzer. Mediocre coach that had all the stars allign and won a championship. He is not that good at all.
Malone and Carlisle are nothing like Budenholzer, who is nothing like Rivers.
Well said.
Can tbe Sixers fire Nurse and pickup Malone…I could go for that
Jokic and a second to the Lakers in exchange for Austin Reaves incoming.
Lol, that would certainly be unsurprising at this point
Especially since the trade deadline was 8 weeks ago
Off season isn’t that far away.
Another owner with no common sense. Seems to be a thing in Denver. What a turd. Hopefully they are quickly bounced from playoffs.
Ok,so Doncic and Jokic are teammates
I dont think so
Booth should’ve been gone long ago, kept losing rotation pieces to free agency, didn’t make the roster any better, was at odds with Malone about playing time, i think they threw the baby out with the bath water, Malone is a great coach but you can only coach the roster you have.
I mean he chose keeping Jokic, Murray, MPJ, and Gordon over the rotation players they lost. Hard to pay everyone what they’re worth in that scenario. Can’t blame him for letting guys walk in free agency but he deserves blame for not finding adequate replacements in the draft/free agency.
Well, usually teams that win ‘chips do what it takes to run it back. Certainly if they had to lose some key backups they should have spent the $ necessary to not regress.
Foolish!
I appreciate all these Western Conference teams trying to make the path a little easier for everyone else.
He should have been fired 5 years ago, but better late than never I guess
The timing is weird tho
Exactly how many “good” coaches do you think there are?
I’d put Malone in the (at least) good category – after all, his ‘chip came against Spoelstra, widely regarded as a top 3 coach.
Clearly it’s personal and a little beyond basketball to fire both with 3 games left in the season – especially when they aren’t gonna do anything in the playoffs anyway without Murray.
They could’ve fired them both in two weeks.
I disagree, Denver had so many opportunities to trade for LaVine or anyone in the trade market, and instead stood pat – that there was a fatal flaw.
If Joker wins the title this year he goes into the GOAT conversation.
Yeah, you’re right… Lavine has really taken SAC to a whole ‘nother level, huh?
Do you understand how basketball works? Players mean different things to different teams.
Do you understand how basketball works??? There’s a reason no other team outside of SAC wanted anything to do with Lavine.
Davey doesn’t understand basketball. No use trying to explain things to him, he doesn’t want to understand.
Jokic is gonna force a trade to win again, Denver is a dumpster fire now.
It will be interesting to see what story comes out after they lose in the play-in/ playoffs.
Please tell me they called him Mike when they told him.
Steve Kerr literally played 2way players instead of Moody, Kuminga and Jackson-Davis as his team made the play-in in 2023 and 2024, when they should have easily avoided that by instead playing the players they actually drafted. All 3 of those should have gotten major minutes. Kerr was not fired for this major mistake and failure in player development. This is the part that kills me, these 2way guys Kerr played over other players they drafted made everyone lose confidence in those guys for no reason.
Still, he wasn’t fired. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
It would be one thing is GSW signed Ty Jerome, Lamb and Chiozza, but they didn’t.
What on the earth is going on in the Western Conference this season.
Mavericks trade Doncic when they absolutely do not need to, and without any reasonable explanation.
Grizzlies fire a successful and respected head coach two weeks before the playoffs.
Nuggets fire a successful and respected head coach one week before the playoffs.
What the hell is going on here??
That’s corporate America for you.
I’d say this is much worse for Malone than the KINGS firing.
Letting idiots who dont know ball own NBA teams.
Every chatter in these comments sections knows more than the average NBA team owner.
I wonder if Malone will still sing Mike Brown’s praises when he ultimately replaces him as HC
Two teams next year are really going to benefit from hiring Jenkins and Malone.
Chicago, Sacramento, New Orleans all in need of a quality head coach for starters
Malone with the kings would be cool. See him turn Sabonis and LaVine into a baby version of Jokic and Murray. Keegan Murray = Micheal Porter Jr. Let him in there and make a couple moves they could be a solid side.
Jenkins can have Chicago. More of a full on rebuild
Kings fired Malone and Vivek is still the owner. Malone did not like him and was forced out, he is not coming back.
Comparing Sabonis to Joker on any level is insanely delusional. They are both completely different players.
So a coach can be fired as a top 4 seed in one of the most competitive Western Conference playoff races ever, while continuing to win with his second best player being hurt and/or not playing at his best, and a bench made up of Russell Westbrook and a bag of chips? Did I miss anything? Unbelievable.
Nope, pretty spot on
He also had like 50 chances to acquire LaVine for almost nothing, and instead didn’t bolster any aspect of the team. The GM definitely deserved firing for not sureing up the depth
LaVine doesn’t make teams better. If anything they would have been worse defensively.
All they needed was a second scorer. He’s a perfect guy to get carried by Joker.
Surprising but not shocking. Calvin Booth probably had to go – his lack of activity at the deadline, when the team desperately needed depth in particular, has hurt them in the back half of the season. He was hamstrung by contracts that were hard to move, but ultimately, he handed out those contracts.
Malone I’m definitely more surprised about, but there are things he has arguably done poorly this year. The second unit is dreadful, and there seemed to be no real plan earlier in the season to develop one with the young talent he has – it’s all been about throwing Jokic the ball and having him save the day. Not to mention his insistence on playing Westbrook far more than he should – he’s a 20min energy guy, yet Malone has tried (like many coaches before him) to turn Westbrook into a 35min guy – but he has too many flaws. Meanwhile, Malone has literally sat back and watched Westbrook throw games away, and given no indication that there are changes or consequences.
The “Top 4” seeding hides a lot of major issues for this team.
A 4 seed doesn’t have major issues to hide
Don’t disagree, but if you would’ve told me coming into the season Malone would do those things I would have 100% believed you. He’s a known quantity as this point. To fire him at this point in the season is difficult to justify in that context. And even if you were planning to fire him, do it at least a month or more earlier. Completely unfair to expect the interim head coach to have success with only a week before the playoffs.
Feels like this was either a conflict situation (ownership with Malone, Malone with Jokic) or ownership simply wanting to fire him in the most demeaning way.
Malone is a great coach, and the HC’ing job he did in DEN in the championship year, and more importantly the years preceding the championship year, was one of the best in the past 20 years.
But if the Kronke brat thinks he knows better, so be it. Better for Malone’s health, as he’s a guy who coaches ever game like its his last, and this team, without its second star, isn’t likely to do anything in the playoffs in any event. But going forward, this move, in all likelihood, closes Jokic’s contention window with DEN. What that means in terms of his tenure there, who knows? Euros’ rarely ask for trades, but sometimes the timelines of a star and his team diverge to a degree that it has to be an option, on both ends.
I don’t know about Malone being a great coach and not just a Joker-rider. Need more examples of him not with an all-timer.
Is Hartenstein Zillow-ing the Denver metropolitan right now?
Fear level 6.5 currently
Any team that belongs to the Kroenke’s is always gonna fail!
They are dreadful owners, all they care about is money not winning!
They destroyed Arsenal, haven’t won anything in like 20 years, unbelievable!!!’
DEN only won a title thanks to the GOAT, despite ownership!
Won’t happen again, right?
Wow !!!!!! What is up with the West teams ????
^We can chalk this up as the #1 reason why Thibs plays the starters as much as possible and doesn’t play the trash at the bottom of his roster. He enjoys working.
This makes no sense. Why would you do it now. Look at Grizz. From top two to play-in. I like Malone. He will have no problem getting another job. Bulls should hire him ………. Like right now.
Man Thibs can use him as an offensive coach.
Nick Nurse and Daryl Morey are watching this with popcorn giggling.
Terrible extensions.
Murray being made of glass
Not signing defensive minded perimeter players
None of that has to do with Malone. Calvin Booth has been terrible.
Please bulls, sign him. Im sick with billy donovan
Doesn’t matter who the coach is. The Bulls front has been terrible for years.