The Denver Nuggets announced on Tuesday that they are parting ways with Mike Malone and Calvin Booth just 11 days before the post-season begins.
2025 is the Year of the Snake—as good an explanation as any for what’s been happening in the NBA recently.
Just as the dust was beginning to settle following the trade that broke the internet—where Mavs GM Nico Harrison shipped off fan-favourite Luka Doncic to the Lakers without warning—Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke announced on Tuesday that he was relieving head coach Mike Malone of his duties.
Malone is the winningest coach in the team’s history since taking charge in 2015 and is the man behind Denver’s sole championship ring from just two seasons ago. GM Calvin Booth—who joined the organisation at the start of their championship-winning season—was also shown the door.
In a team statement on the NBA’s official website, Kroenke says, “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.”
It’s yet another case of sentiment being thrown out the window by NBA Execs and a shock decision that has fans scratching their heads. Parting ways with a coach or GM is not out of the ordinary, but doing so just 11 days before the start of the post-season certainly is.
NBA fans react to Nuggets firing Mike Malone
Following the news breaking, there was a collective agreement among fans that this was strange timing.
One fan says, “Awful move. Punting a season with the best player in the world on your team is malpractice”.
Another Denver fan wonders, “Why would you fire the coach 10 days before the playoffs start roughly? Do they actually have a plan in place or did they just act out of emotion?”
“For what reason? The man won a chip two years ago and they’re currently sitting at the 4th spot”.
Some fans were pleased with the decision, but not out of love for the Nuggets.
Some fans just seem exhausted from the drama: “This has to be the most strange season in NBA history.”
What this means for the Nuggets heading into the post-season
Nikola Jokic is battling in one of the tightest MVP races we’ve seen in recent years, and while some have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the favourite, the outcome will be a hair-splitting exercise.
Jokic has been the best player in the NBA for some time but faces a new challenge lacing up for a coach not named Malone.
Jokic and Malone had a good working relationship, it is understood.
David Adelman—assistant to Malone for eight years—will step in as acting head coach as Denver prepares for the playoffs, yet another point of confusion in this saga.
When the Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins last month, there was a strategic reason. They wanted to secure their future by locking down assistant Tuomas Iisalo as head coach amid interest from other teams.
But Denver have no such succession plan in place, and will likely be running the same actions, just without the brain behind them.
It really is the Wild West this year, with conference seeding far from settled. The gap from third to eighth seed is just three wins, so it’s near impossible to paint an accurate picture of what the playoff bracket will look like come next week.
The consensus amongst NBA fans though, is that Denver just became less of a threat.
The post NBA fans are all saying the same thing as Nuggets fire head coach Mike Malone and GM Calvin Booth appeared first on HITC.
