Denver Nuggets fire coach Mike Malone ahead of NBA playoffs

The Denver Nuggets have fired head coach Mike Malone with just three games remaining in the 2024-25 NBA regular season, per Shams Charania of ESPN. Denver (47-32) is the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference, but Malone is out after 10 seasons.

It’s a full clean out in Denver, as the Nuggets have also parted ways with general manager Calvin Booth. The Nuggets named David Adelman as interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

“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,” said Josh Kroenke, vice chairman of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment.

“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. Championship level standards and expectations remain in place for the current season, and as we look to the future, we look forward to building on the foundations laid by Coach Malone over his record-breaking 10-year career in Denver.

“There is no amount of gratitude that we can properly convey to his contributions since he joined our franchise in 2015. It is with our utmost respect that we would like to thank Coach Malone for the most successful decade in Nuggets history, setting the all-time wins record and helping deliver Denver our first championship.”

Nuggets part ways with Mike Malone amid recent tough stretch

Malone, hired in 2015, is the winningest coach in Nuggets history. He led Denver to its first NBA championship in 2023. Booth took over as general manager in 2020, adding key contributors such as Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to help put the Nuggets over the top.

The Nuggets continued to win under Malone and Booth’s leadership. They won 57 games last season and advanced to the second round of the playoffs. This year, they went on a nine-game winning streak throughout January and February but have struggled of late.

Denver has dropped four consecutive games and are half a game away from being in the play-in. Ownership clearly did not like the direction headed into the postseason and decided to make a change.

This is the third mid-season firing in 2024-25. The Sacramento Kings previously fired Mike Brown and the Memphis Grizzlies moved on from Taylor Jenkins.