The Denver Nuggets fired head coach Michael Malone and said they would not extend general manager Calvin Booth's contract Tuesday, just days before the end of the regular season.
David Adelman, the Nuggets' lead assistant, will take over as head coach for the remainder of the season.
The shocking decision to fire the coach and eventually part ways with the general manager who won a championship in 2023 comes at a time when the Nuggets (47-32) have lost four straight games and are in danger of falling into the play-in. It has been a frustrating stretch for the Nuggets as three-time MVP and current MVP candidate Nikola Jokic has tried to keep things together while Jamal Murray has been out for five straight games with a hamstring injury.
There have been moments when players have shown emotions on the sideline, with even normally calm Jokic displaying rare frustration recently while on the bench trying to sort out the Nuggets' struggles. The Nuggets have gone 11-13 since the All-Star break.
After Michael Malone's firing Tuesday, four of the last six coaches to win the NBA Finals are no longer with the team with which they won a championship.
When the Nuggets entered this season, sources told ESPN that there was growing tension between Malone and Booth that grew into a «cold war.» Since the team won the championship, the Nuggets have gone with younger role players such as Christian Braun and Peyton Watson around the team's core of Jokic, Murray and Aaron Gordon. Veterans such as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown left in previous summers during free agency to sign bigger deals elsewhere.
Malone had been with the team for 10 seasons, leading the Nuggets to their lone NBA championship. He had a 471-327 record.
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