The Denver Nuggets fired head coach Michael Malone on Tuesday with three games left in the regular season. Denver is currently 47-32, 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Lakers for the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference.
This news comes from ESPN's Shams Charania.
BREAKING: The Denver Nuggets have fired coach Michael Malone, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/bZoKRx6kgt
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 8, 2025
David Adelman will take over as Denver's interim head coach, with a full search presumably tabled until the offseason.
Denver Nuggets fire Michael Malone with NBA Playoffs mere days away
Malone became the winningest head coach in Nuggets history this season. He finishes with a 798-471 record across 10 campaigns in Denver. He won the championship in 2023, the franchise's first.
This is just a complete shock. There is very little precedent for moves like this. Tyronn Lue won the title as the interim in Cleveland in 2016, but he was promoted days into the season — not with days left. The Nuggets, in theory, are in the mix for a title run this season. Nikola Jokic is the best player in the world and has never said a word against Malone. So, the timing here is highly irregular.
Of course, we all said the same thing about the Memphis Grizzlies' decision to fire Taylor Jenkins a literal week ago. Perhaps this is a new strategy among contenders looking to get over the hump. Perhaps it's a total coincidence. But, Malone was extremely accomplished in Denver — the fourth-longest tenured coach in the NBA. His contract was set to expire after the season, but firing him in mid-April is a drastic, totally unexpected step.
If you're looking for a reason, take Denver's defense. The Nuggets currently have the 20th-ranked defense in the NBA this season, which is an ill omen for a championship run. It's hard to reach the mountaintop without functioning at close to an elite level on both sides of the ball. Malone has struggled all season to encourage the necessary buy-in and schematic execution at that end. Nikola Jokic has never been an all-world stopper, but this has been a rough defensive campaign by even his standards. When the middle of your defense is a gaping wound, the rest becomes that much more difficult.
The Nuggets are still impossible to rule out due to Jokic. Any team with the best player in the world has a puncher's chance in the playoffs. But, with a new coach taking over in a moment of true organizational chaos, and it's difficult to imagine Denver mounting a deep run. It seems the Nuggets have already embraced their fate, in a way.