The Denver Nuggets have not had the sort of season they were hoping to when they paired three-time MVP winner Nikola Jokic with the. NBA’s all-time triple-double leader and former MVP Russell Westbrook.
The Nuggets have been solidly mediocre for much of the season, however, the team entered Tuesday evening on a four-game slide that the team sitting at 47-32, which puts them at fifth place in the Westerrn conference, behind the first-place Oklahoma City Thunder, second-place Houston Rockets, and third-place Los Angeles Lakers.
Now, the Nuggets are joining the Memphis Grizzlies, who recently fired head coach Taylor Jenkins, in making a surprising coaching change with the playoffs just around the corner.
“BREAKING: The Denver Nuggets have fired coach Michael Malone, sources tell ESPN,” reported ESPN’s Shams Charania Tuesday afternoon, before following up with some important context on how shocking the move is.
Days before the NBA playoffs, the Nuggets dismissed Malone in a meeting today. Malone is the winningest coach in franchise history since being hired in 2015 – and led the Nuggets to the 2023 NBA championship.”
Malone isn’t the only casualty to the Nuggets’ recent futility.
“Full clean out: The Denver Nuggets are also firing general manager Calvin Booth, sources tell ESPN. Michael Malone and Booth both out today,” Charania reported.
NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor shed some light on how fractured things were behind the scenes this season.
“Absolutely nuts. Booth and Malone never liked each other, rarely spoke, and talked behind each other’s backs. With the team struggling on the court, Nuggets ownership decided to fire both. Insane.”
It’ll be interesting to see how the playoffs go for Denver with such massive organizational changes coming just days before the playoffs commence.
