In shocking move, Nuggets fire head coach Malone, GM Calvin Booth as playoffs loom

Tim Reynolds · The Associated Press

· Posted: Apr 08, 2025 2:29 PM EDT | Last Updated: 20 minutes ago

Michael Malone, who coached the Denver Nuggets to the NBA rubric successful 2023 and has led the squad to 8 consecutive winning seasons, was fired Tuesday successful a stunning determination that comes with little than a week successful the regular season.

Also out: wide manager Calvin Booth, whose declaration volition not beryllium renewed. The Nuggets said David Adelman volition go the manager for the remainder of the season.

Josh Kroenke, the vice president of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, said "it is with nary pleasure" that the Nuggets made the alteration astatine coach.

"This determination was not made lightly and was evaluated precise carefully, and we bash it lone with the volition of giving our radical the champion accidental astatine competing for the 2025 NBA Championship and delivering different rubric to Denver and our fans everywhere," Kroenke said.

The Nuggets are 47-32 this play with 3 games near but person dropped 4 consecutive games and are successful a logjam of teams warring for home-court vantage successful Round 1 of the playoffs. Denver won the rubric successful 2023 and mislaid a Game 7 astatine location successful the Western Conference semifinals a twelvemonth agone to Minnesota.

The four-game descent comes contempt Nuggets prima Nikola Jokic, a victor of 3 of the past 4 NBA MVP awards, having a historical season, averaging 30 points, 12.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game. But adjacent that wasn't bully capable for Denver to participate the last week of the play definite of adjacent having location tribunal successful Round 1.

After the astir caller loss, a 125-120 decision to Indiana connected Sunday, Jokic was asked his biggest interest with the squad close now.

"I don't know. Maybe we just, possibly we conscionable … I don't know, actually," Jokic said.

The Nuggets are hoping a shakeup mightiness supply the answer.

Malone had the fourth-longest tenure of immoderate progressive NBA coach, down San Antonio's Gregg Popovich, Miami's Erik Spoelstra and Golden State's Steve Kerr.

'Timing of this determination is unfortunate'

Malone won 471 regular-season games successful Denver, 39 much than Doug Moe for the franchise's all-time coaching lead.

"While the timing of this determination is unfortunate, arsenic Coach Malone helped physique the instauration of our present title level program, it is simply a indispensable measurement to let america to vie astatine the highest level close now.

"Championship level standards and expectations stay successful spot for the existent season, and arsenic we look to the future, we look guardant to gathering connected the foundations laid by Coach Malone implicit his record-breaking 10-year vocation successful Denver," Kroenke said.

Malone had accordant occurrence successful Denver. The Nuggets finished with losing records successful his archetypal 2 seasons and posted winning records successful his adjacent 8 years with the club.

This season's post-season quality volition beryllium the team's seventh successful a row; it has not clinched a playoff berth yet this play but is assured of finishing nary worse than successful the play-in tournament.

Starting with the archetypal playoff quality nether Malone successful 2019, the Nuggets got retired of the archetypal circular six times successful 7 chances. They made the Western Conference finals successful the Walt Disney World bubble successful 2020 and past rolled to the title by winning 16 of 20 playoff games successful 2023.

It is the 2nd clip a post-season-bound squad has fired a manager successful the past 2 weeks. Memphis parted ways with Taylor Jenkins precocious past month, replacing him with Tuomas Iisalo connected an interim basis.

Booth came to the Nuggets successful 2017 arsenic an adjunct GM and was promoted to GM successful July 2020. He signed his astir caller declaration with the nine successful 2022.

Kroenke credited Booth "for helping enactment the last pieces successful spot for the roster that delivered Denver and our fans their archetypal NBA championship."

"Calvin's cognition of the game, his passionateness for scouting, and his agelong past arsenic a subordinate and enforcement successful the NBA helped assistance our enactment to caller heights which we volition proceed moving forward," Kroenke said.

The Nuggets play Wednesday astatine Sacramento.