Firing coaches or changing top positions is usually only done by NBA teams after the season has ended. This helps the club have time to prepare for the new season, while avoiding distractions and affecting the players’ psychology while competing.

However, two teams have fired their coaches in just the past month, right when the Regular Season NBA entered the sprint phase. It’s even harder to believe when both are teams in the Playoffs race. The latest name to be “beheaded” is Mr. Michael Malone of the Denver Nuggets.

After the Memphis Grizzlies suddenly fired their head coach just a few weeks before the Playoffs, it is now the Denver Nuggets’ turn to say goodbye to coach Michael Malone when the postseason will arrive in less than 10 days.

According to many reputable journalists who reported in the early morning of April 9, the Denver Nuggets decided to terminate the contract early and fire head coach Michael Malone, who directly contributed to bringing the club to the NBA championship in 2023.

In a tense race in the West to compete for the Playoffs position, the Nuggets have lost 4 consecutive matches and won only 3 times in the last 10 matches. If the bad scenario happens, Denver will not be able to appear in the top-6 and will be forced to compete for the Playoffs through a series of play-in matches.

Nikola Jokic continuously has “huge” matches but the Denver Nuggets have only won 3 of the last 10 matches

It is still unclear whether this performance is the direct cause of the Denver Nuggets’ “decapitation” or not. Just know that Denver’s decision to fire the coach is shaking up the entire NBA. No one thought that a team with a high position on the rankings like the Nuggets would change their general, let alone when this decision was made. Denver is together with LA Clippers, Golden State Warriors and Memphis Grizzlies in owning a record of 47 wins – 32 losses. The head-to-head advantage helps the Nuggets maintain 5th place. LA Clippers are in the highest position at 4th place. Warriors and Grizzlies are 6th and 7th respectively with the Minnesota Timberwolves (record 46-33) trying to rush into the top-6.

NBA Western rankings after the April 9 series, the Denver Nuggets are ranked 5th but have the same record of 47-32 as the teams from 4th to 7th (Clippers, Nuggets, Warriors, Grizzlies)

In addition, Mr. Michael Malone is not the only one who has to say goodbye to the club. According to reputable journalist Shams Charania, the Denver Nuggets also decided to part ways with technical director Calvin Booth, whose contract with the team will expire next summer.

Journalist Shams added that Malone and Booth had conflicts with each other in running the team, leading to distraction for the whole team.

This may have contributed to the Denver Nuggets making important decisions about personnel at this extremely sensitive time.

Less than 2 years after the 2023 NBA championship trophy, the Denver Nuggets have had a huge change in terms of recognition. Missing the captain position after firing coach Michael Malone, assistant David Adelman will be promoted to interim head coach for the Denver Nuggets. Mr. Adelman will try to lead Nikola Jokic and the Denver players through the tense race in the final week of the Regular Season, where Jokic is still showing MVP quality but the Nuggets cannot convert those performances into wins.

The cold war within the team, which brought the Denver Nuggets to the decision to fire coach Michael Malone? Back last summer as the Denver Nuggets prepared to enter the 2024-25 season, ESPN said the relationship between head coach Michael Malone and technical director Calvin Booth had become strained.

Since the 2023 NBA championship, Denver has rejuvenated its roster. They gradually brought players like Christian Braun or Peyton Watson into the rotation, supporting the four-man frame including Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon and Michael Porter Jr. Important pillars who helped the Denver Nuggets win the championship before such as Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, Bruce Brown, and furthermore Jeff Green were not renewed, then moved to other teams.

Perhaps Mr. Michael Malone wants to retain the old framework with experienced pillars, which will help the team play more firmly at important times, especially the Playoffs stage.

Meanwhile, Technical Director Calvin Booth wants to rejuvenate to optimize the team’s finances, avoiding having to pay high salaries in an era where the NBA’s salary budget and penalty taxes are a difficult problem. Speaking with The Ringer at the end of 2023, Mr. Booth once said: “If developing young players causes the club to lose the ability to win the championship in 2024, he will accept it because it is an investment in people. It is better to win the championship 3 times in 6-7 years, 4 times in 8-9 years than to win the championship two years in a row.”

This statement was later personally corrected by the technical director of the Denver Nuggets, but it also shows the different direction between two people who must work together as a team.

And then instead of finding a solution, there was a “cold war” with both, one strategist on the field, the other planning moves on personnel in the transfer market.

The saddest person is Nikola Jokic?

Experts say the person most affected at this time is probably Nikola Jokic, the soul of the entire Denver Nuggets Club. The reason is that since arriving in the NBA, Jokic has only had one teacher, Mr. Michael Malone.

The strategist born in 1971 has been with the Denver Nuggets for nearly a decade, helping the team complete the transition into the Jokic era. Since then, the Nuggets have always built their playing style and personnel around “The Joker”, gradually becoming a force of NBA basketball.

Until he was fired, Mr. Michael Malone was the coach with the best performance among the captains that the Denver Nuggets had ever owned. He is also the person who brought home the Nuggets’ only NBA championship trophy, won in 2023 with Finals MVP Nikola Jokic.

Regardless of the reason being hidden inside the locker room or at the top of the team, the decision to fire Mr. Michael Malone will certainly have a great impact on Nikola Jokic and, more broadly, the Denver Nuggets in the future.