The Denver Nuggets fired coach Michael Malone Tuesday, less than two years after he led the franchise to its first NBA championship. The club also said it would not extend the contract of general manager Calvin Booth.
The timing of the move stunned NBA circles. The Nuggets have only three games left in the regular season and are fourth in the Western Conference as they jockey for playoff positioning.
“This decision was not made lightly and was evaluated very carefully,” Josh Kroenke, Kroenke Sports and Entertainment vice chairman, said in a statement. “We do it only with the intention of giving our group the best chance at competing for the 2025 NBA Championship and delivering another title to Denver and our fans everywhere.”
In November 2023, Malone signed a two-year contract extension after leading Denver to the title that June. The deal was set to kick off with the 2025-26 season and was worth $12 million per year, according to someone familiar with the details. The raise also came after the NBA coaching market was reset that summer when the Detroit Pistons hired Monty Williams with a six-year, $78.5 million contract. Before Williams, only one NBA coach earned $10 million a year—there were eight to start the 2024-25 season.
Malone’s salary ranked fifth among the highest-paid NBA coaches, with Steve Kerr on top at $17.5 million per year. Thirteen NBA coaches were among the 50 highest-paid coaches across all sports last year.
Malone was the NBA’s fourth-longest-tenured coach. He was hired in 2015 after a 106-game stint with the Sacramento Kings. In November, Malone passed Doug Moe for the most wins in Nuggets franchise history with 433. His tenure in Denver ends with a record of 471-327, including eight straight winning seasons.
With Malone fired, and Taylor Jenkins fired by the Memphis Grizzlies last month, there are now only three NBA coaches hired by their current teams before 2020: the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich, Miami Heat’s Erik Spoelstra and Golden State Warriors’ Steve Kerr.
Popovich, Spoelstra and Kerr have won a combined 11 NBA titles, but a ring does not ensure career longevity in the NBA. Since 2016, the Cleveland Cavaliers (Ty Lue), Los Angeles Lakers (Frank Vogel) and Milwaukee Bucks (Mike Budenholzer) fired their respective coaches two years after a championship. Nick Nurse lasted four seasons with the Raptors after his 2019 title before Toronto fired him.