Nuggets Shockingly Fire Michael Malone, Clean House By Also Axing GM Calvin Booth

The Memphis Grizzlies rattled the NBA coaching landscape a couple weeks ago by firing Taylor Jenkins, and the Denver Nuggets decided to turn said landscape on its head with a shocking move on Tuesday by firing head coach Michael Malone. The organization also fired General Manager Calvin Booth, who had held that position with the team since July of 2020. 

In 10 seasons with the Nuggets, Malone tallied 471 wins with 327 losses, leading the team to six playoff appearances and the 2023 NBA championship. With just three games remaining in the 2024-25 regular season (the Nuggets are 47-32, 4th in the Western Conference) the move is a shock. 

Malone always campaigned for and complimented superstar Nikola Jokic, and seemed to have a good handle on the team. However, Yahoo’s Kevin O’Connor said on X that Malone and Booth had a fractured relationship, which is undoubtedly grounds for some sort of change from the higher ups. Just stupefying that Malone gets ousted.

The Nuggets have lost four games in a row, and Malone did go after the team’s lack of defensive effort after their 125-120 loss to the Indiana Pacers at home on Sunday.

Still, that is not usual for a coach to publicly chastise his team in a post-game press conference. Perhaps, as O’Connor says, the relationship with Malone and Booth was frayed beyond repair and the team wants to start anew at both head coach and general manager.

As Peter Vecsey pointed out on X, in 1998-99, then-New York Knicks President Dave Checketts was presented with an ultimatum to fire either head coach Jeff Van Gundy or team General Manager Ernie Grunfeld. Grunfeld was relieved, and that playoffs the Knicks made the Finals before losing to the San Antonio Spurs.

As David Adelman takes over now for the Nuggets as interim head coach, let’s see if the team can have a similar resurgence.