Less than a month ago, the Denver Nuggets beat the Oklahoma City Thunder on the road. Nikola Jokic put up 35 points on 15-for-20 shooting, plus 18 rebounds and eight assists. Jamal Murray put up 34 points on 11-for-22 shooting, plus four rebounds and six assists. Together, the two of them played a total of 80 minutes and turned the ball over only once.
The win meant the Nuggets had split the season series with the top-seeded Thunder. “I couldn’t be more proud of them,” coach Michael Malone told reporters. After a rough fourth quarter against the same opponent the previous night, this was a “big-time response,” he said.
At the time, Denver had won 14 its last 18 games. It was second in the West and had the second-best offense in the NBA. Malone took the opportunity to make a case for Jokić to win his fourth MVP award in five years.
That may have been the 2024-25 Nuggets’ signature win, but it’s safe to say they failed to build on it. At home against the Minnesota Timberwolves in their next game, they lost by 20 points, and that was wasn’t even their most disappointing effort of the week. In danger of falling into the play-in with three games left in the regular season, Denver fired Malone on Tuesday and announced that general manager Calvin Booth’s tenure is effectively over, too.
Nuggets fire Michael Malone and Calvin Booth: Coach, GM out in Denver less than two years after NBA title
Jasmyn Wimbish
Malone is the franchise’s all-time winningest coach. He’s the only coach Jokić and Murray have had at the NBA level. The team’s current core won a championship just two seasons ago, albeit with a stronger supporting cast. There is no precedent for a good team firing a coach at any point even close to this stage of the season, aside from the Memphis Grizzlies axing Taylor Jenkins 11 days ago. Typically, if a team’s upper management is thinking about cleaning house like this, it at least waits until after the playoffs.
I’m not sure there is a way to make this pivot — and particularly the timing of it — make sense. To understand how the Nuggets got to a place in which this sort of shake-up was even a possibility, though, it’s worth examining their last four weeks, and what Malone himself has said about the team during that time.
Malone frustrated by Nuggets’ poor defense
After that letdown against Minnesota, Malone said that the team was “really tired” and “didn’t play much defense all night long,” but didn’t crush the players for it.
“I just felt that we were a step slow,” Malone told reporters. “And that’s understandable. That’s what I was telling myself. You look at what I’ve been asking, especially our main players as of late, that’s a lot.”
Malone said they had to figure out how to make sure their players were as rested as possible heading into the back-to-back they had coming up against the Los Angeles Lakers and Washington Wizards. Ideally, given that the Lakers were shorthanded and the Wizards have been woeful all season, the stars wouldn’t even have to log too many minutes. Instead, though, Jokić and Murray logged a combined 77 minutes against an LA team that was missing LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Dorian Finney-Smith, Rui Hachimura and Gabe Vincent.
Austin Reaves lit up Denver for 37 points and 13 assists. Rookie wing Dalton Knecht added 32 points. The Nuggets escaped with a 131-126 win, thanks to an 8-0 run in the final minute, but Malone wasn’t pleased with their defense, their rebounding or their turnovers.
It was “another game,” Malone told reporters, in which the Nuggets “showed up and kind of tried to ease our way into it, and they jumped all over us. And that’s a recipe for disaster. We can’t do that.”
The Wizards game was worse. Denver built a 16-point lead in the first quarter, but allowed Washington to get back into it and hang around. Despite a 40-point, 13-rebound, nine-assist performance from Jokić, the Nuggets found themselves in a tight game down the stretch.
In the final four minutes of the game, Denver had two live-ball turnovers, allowing the Wizards to score on seven of their nine offensive possessions. Jordan Poole scored 12 points during this time, including the game-winning 3-pointer from 35 feet away. Coach Malone expressed frustration with the team’s lack of defensive effort, pointing out their decline in defensive ranking since the All-Star break. He emphasized the need for improved defense, fewer turnovers, and better rebounding to stay competitive in the playoff race. Despite missing Nikola Jokić due to injury in the following games, the Nuggets managed to defeat strong opponents but struggled against weaker teams. Malone criticized the team’s lackluster performance in a loss to the Trail Blazers, highlighting their defensive lapses and lack of effort on the glass. He challenged the players to show more pride and urgency in their approach to games in order to avoid falling into the play-in tournament. Malone’s blunt message to the team was met with mixed reactions, but he remained steadfast in his commitment to honesty and accountability. After calling for feedback and receiving silence, I expressed my disappointment at the lack of defensive improvement in the game. Malone acknowledged that the team had fallen short in crucial areas, despite his emphasis on them. The defensive struggles had worsened, leading to a decision that the status quo could not be maintained in the upcoming postseason.
It is surprising that the Nuggets decided to part ways with their most successful coach just before the playoffs. Malone had been critical of the team’s defensive performance, but given the circumstances, he had refrained from blaming individual players. The recent losing streak, compounded by Jamal Murray’s absence due to injury, had put the team in a difficult position.
Despite the challenges, Malone challenged the team to step up and improve their performance in the remaining games. The upcoming matches against the Kings, Grizzlies, and Rockets would be tough, and Malone emphasized the need to break out of the current slump. Interim coach David Adelman faced a daunting task in guiding the team through this period of organizational upheaval.
Looking ahead, Malone hoped to see a positive response from the team and secure a top-six seed to avoid the play-in tournament. The focus was not just on ending the losing streak and securing a playoff spot but also on overcoming the chaos within the organization. The road ahead would be challenging, but Malone remained optimistic about the team’s ability to turn things around.