The NBA has been unpredictable all year, with the Dallas Mavericks trading Luka Doncic being the biggest jaw-dropper. But the Denver Nuggets moving on from head coach Michael Malone just three games before the playoffs? That was a headliner as well.
Malone, who had been with Denver for nearly a decade, exits as the winningest coach in franchise history with a 510-394 record. He coached the team to a title in 2023 and had the Nuggets sitting at 47-32 this season prior to his firing.
The move stirred plenty of discussion, but more important is what it could signal for Nikola Jokic. With a championship still in reach, Boston Celtics legend Paul Pierce sees the late-season firing as something that could make Jokic think about moving on this summer.
“What it’s telling me is that you’re wasting one of the greatest players of this generation. You’re wasting his prime now. Because I look at this like, how do you go into the playoffs with a focus—like, ‘Hey guys, we’re going to talk about winning a championship’—when now for the next week or two, they’re going to be talking about the firing of the coach in the locker room. Instead of us talking about a championship, we’re going to be talking about that. How are you going to be focused on winning the playoffs when that’s going to be the subject of every conversation from here on out? I just don’t get it.”
“This is going to be more of a distraction. They could have waited until after the season to do this. If the players had an issue with Mike Malone—cool—you dealt with it this long, you could have dealt with it a few more weeks. So I just don’t get it. This does not give them the best chance to win a championship. And I wouldn’t be shocked if Joker demands a trade this summer.
