Michael Malone, Calvin Booth

Move over, Taylor Jenkins.

With just three games remaining, the Nuggets fired coach Michael Malone AND announced they'll let general manager Calvin Booth walk when his contract expires this offseason. David Adelman is now interim coach.

This is a sweeping end to a rift between Malone and Booth, both losing – stunningly close to the postseason.

Zeke Nnaji

The Nuggets signed Zeke Nnaji to a four-year, $32 million extension as a trade chip with an understanding he'd maintain value at that salary as long as he didn't completely stink or not play, but Michael Malone deliberately didn't play Nnaji to make Calvin Booth look bad, Adam Mares of DNVR said.

That was in the context of Mares saying the stories he has heard about Malone and Booth would blow people's minds but adding the caveat: With different stories coming from each side, it's hard for even the connected Mares to know the truth.

Do I believe, if Nnaji just didn't deserve more playing time, Booth could accuse Malone of sabotage, due to paranoia and/or deflection? Yes.

Do I believe, if Nnaji just didn't deserve more playing time, his agent could accuse Malone of sabotage, due to paranoia and/or deflection? Yes.

Do I believe it's also possible Malone was stubborn enough not to play Nnaji mainly to spite Booth? Yes.

Obviously, Malone doing that would be so destructive and really showcase the dysfunction in Denver. But the mere accusation is toxic and speaks to the problems in Denver.

Mike Penberthy

One other example Adam Mares gave of the disconnect between Calvin Booth and Michael Malone: Booth hired Mike Penberthy as Denver's shooting coach. Malone objected, noting Penberthy is a coach and that Malone had the right to choose his coaches or at least be consulted. So, Penberthy had to work with players outside practice or other official team time.

Whether Penberthy could help the Nuggets win should have been the central question. But Malone was so distrustful of Booth and Booth was so uncaring of Malone's feelings, they lost sight of putting the team first.

Calvin Booth-Michael Malone

I disliked Calvin Booth's prioritizing a longer-term plan while Nikola Jokic is in his prime. The Nuggets should have focused on maximizing this window.

But it sounds like Booth maybe struggled even more with interpersonal management.

Why didn't he just fire Michael Malone? Malone clearly wasn't on board with Booth infusing the roster with youth, and that plan was never going to work without the coach bought in.

Maybe Booth lacked authority to fire Malone, who predated Booth in Denver. If that were the case, Booth should have changed his plan. Every executive works within the confines of his team situation. Blindly continuing a plan that requires the coach on board when the coach isn't on board got them both fired.

Timing

With just three games left in the regular season, this is tied for the latest coaching change in NBA history, with the Hawks firing Hubie Brown in 1981. But Atlanta was winding down a dead-end season.

Denver is headed to the postseason – probably the playoffs.

The current record for latest a playoff team fired its coach is the 1983 Nets, who fired Larry Brown with six games remaining (covered in greater depth in our Duncs on the Taylor Jenkins firing). So, the Nuggets would break the record if they make the playoffs.

Fewest games remaining when a playoff team fired its coach (with this year's Nuggets and Grizzlies included):

No team with 20 or fewer games remaining when firing its coach has won a playoff series. No team with 10 or fewer games remaining when firing its coach has won a playoff game – the 1983 Nets and 2020 Nets (who fired Kenny Atkinson with what turned out to be 10 games left) both getting swept in the first round.

Between Denver and Memphis, it seems at least one will win a playoff game this year. Heck, one or both could win a series.

But that would be unprecedented.

Record

Michael Malone ties Larry Brown's record for most wins before getting fired during a season, 47. Before the Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins with 44 wins, nobody else had more than 34:

Malone won 59% of his games this season (eighth-best record ever for a coach fired in-season) and made it nearly all the way through. Coaches like that almost never get fired.

Especially with Malone's stature.

Michael Malone

The only coaches to win a championship with a team then get fired in-season since 1982: Tyronn Lue, who was put out of his misery just six games into the Cavaliers' first post-LeBron season, and now Michael Malone.

Malone was a giant in Denver. At 471-327, he has the most wins in franchise history. The only coaches who won more in a tenure that ended in a firing:

• John MacLeod, who won 579 games with the Suns before they fired him in 1987
• Phil Jackson, who won 545 games with the Bulls before they ousted him 1998*

*Though Jackson's contract expired in 1998, he was not welcome back. I usually counting coaching changes as a binary – decided by the team or decided by the coach. So, I count Jackson's end in Chicago as a firing.

In his 10th season, Malone was the NBA's fourth-longest-tenured coach (behind only Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra and Steve Kerr).

The Nuggets were previously rewarded for their uncommon patience with Malone. In his eighth season when Denver won the 2023 championship, Malone holds the record for longest into a coaching tenure winning his first title. He's the only coach to win a title after going even four full seasons on a job without a championship since Chuck Daly with the 1989 Pistons.

For this tenure to get so sideways the Nuggets fired him just before the playoffs is remarkable.

Why

The Nuggets made this change now to give themselves the best chance of competing for the 2025 championship, Nuggets executive Josh Kroenke said in a statement.

Denver has lost 10 of 16, including four straight. The team was in a total funk.

The Nuggets have far more variance under David Adelman. Considering where they were, that's a good thing for the rest of this season.

Josh Kroenke

Josh Kroenke said he and his father, Nuggets owner Stan Kroenke, recently decided to oust Michael Malone and Calvin Booth at end of season then moved to whether it made more sense to do now, ultimately deciding yes.

That was part of an interview Josh Kroenke did for the Nuggets' official channels. I'd prefer he face questions from outside media. But for someone from ownership level to take questions at all, especially so swiftly, stands out and reflects quite positively on Kroenke.

-Dan Feldman