The Denver Nuggets fired coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth on Tuesday in a surprise move with three games left in the NBA regular season.
Assistant coach David Adelman will take over as interim coach, the team said. No other members of the coaching staff or front office were fired, team sources said.
The Nuggets are 47-32 and fourth in the Western Conference entering Wednesday night’s matchup at the Sacramento Kings, but had lost their last four games.
“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,” Josh Kroenke, vice chairman of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, 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.”
Malone, 53, was the fourth-longest-tenured coach in the NBA, trailing only Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs, Erik Spoelstra of the Miami Heat and Steve Kerr of the Golden State Warriors. He led Denver to its first championship in 2023 and had been the coach for the entirety of three-time MVP Nikola Jokić’s 10-year tenure. But league sources there had been significant frustration within the locker room at how the Nuggets were playing, particularly defensively. The Nuggets were just 20th in defensive rating. Jokić has been frustrated with the team’s defensive commitment and performance this season.
That frustration started to become apparent on the floor. In Malone’s final two weeks in charge, the Nuggets lost important games to the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Golden State Warriors. But they also lost winnable games, particularly to the San Antonio Spurs at home. While Denver is fourth in the West, just a half-game separates it from eighth — meaning the Nuggets could fall into the Play-In Tournament with a poor finish.
The Nuggets are the second Western Conference contender in two weeks to fire their coach as the postseason nears. The Memphis Grizzlies, in the same battle for playoff positioning, fired Taylor Jenkins on March 28 with nine games remaining.
Malone was the only Nuggets coach with a contract beyond this season. The assistants are all on expiring deals, per league sources.
Booth, 48, had been with the organization since 2017 and the GM since 2020. But Malone and Booth had been at odds over everything from roster construction to the way players were used, creating tension that started to bleed into the rest of the organization. Booth wanted Malone to use younger players that he drafted and wanted Malone to stray away from using veterans for so many minutes.
Jalen Pickett is a good example of this, according to league sources. Booth was dismayed that Malone went with Russell Westbrook over Pickett down the stretch of multiple games last week. On a macro level, Booth and Malone disagreed on several things.
Booth was in the last year of his contract, per league sources. He came close to signing an extension earlier this season, but the offer was later pulled by Kroenke.
“I am greatly appreciative of the opportunity,” Booth told The Athletic. “I don’t have any regrets. I did my job to the best of my ability.”
Booth was instrumental in the construction of Denver’s 2023 title team. But his moves were also a source of frustration among the Nuggets’ fan base. He gave Zeke Nnaji a hefty four-year deal, and Malone has barely used him in his rotation. Booth brought in Dario Šarić this past offseason via free agency, and Šarić fell out of favor with Malone before December.
With Jokić’s blessing, Booth brought in Westbrook, and while he has played well overall, he was a lightning rod in the losses to Minnesota and San Antonio last week. The Nuggets have hardly resembled the team that won the title less than two years ago or resembled a team capable of competing for a title this spring. Since reeling off nine consecutive wins from Jan. 31 to Feb. 20, the team is just 10-13.
And now the coach and GM who orchestrated the title run are gone.
According to league sources, the team’s defensive decline played a significant part in the recent rise in organizational frustration.
(Photo: Katelyn Mulcahy / Getty Images)
