‘Drained Joy,’ NBA Insider Reveals Insane Details on Michael Malone Firing
April 11, 2025
3,445
The Denver Nuggets made a shocking move to fire their head coach and general manager just a few games before the end of the 2025 regular season. However, as shocking as it was, more details are being released on the situation that are showing why the sudden move was made.
On the NBA podcast “Brian Windhorst and the Hoop Collective”, NBA insider Tim MacMahon talked about his experience discussing the details of what went down in the Denver Nuggets organization that led to the firings of their head coach and general manager.
More news: Anthony Davis Seemingly Shades Rob Pelinka Ahead of Lakers vs Dallas Matchup
“In talking to people around the organization, I frankly haven’t heard sadness that Michael Malone is no longer the Nuggets’ head coach. It’s been pretty much a consensus that his time had come,” MacMahon said.
“This extended Cold War between Michael Malone and Calvin Booth had drained the joy from the entire organization. One guy used the term “freakin’ miserable,” and they felt that those guys prioritized their own situations and their own egos to the expense of the team, that Malone had lost the locker room — including Joker, including Jamal Murray, on down.”
MacMahon prefaced these comments by saying he had a great respect for Malone and always enjoyed talking with him, so this has nothing to do with his personal opinion and all to do with what he has heard from others within the organization.
These comments are fascinating in the sense that it seems the Nuggets had clashing front office members, and rather than choose between them, they just fired both and moved on.
Head coach Michael Malone of the Denver Nuggets looks on against the Golden State Warriors in the second quarter at Chase Center on April 04, 2025. Head coach Michael Malone of the Denver Nuggets looks on against the Golden State Warriors in the second quarter at Chase Center on April 04, 2025. Eakin Howard/Getty Images
When it comes to hirings and firings, it is easy for fans to simply look at how a team is playing and whether they are winning or losing, and decide how a team should handle its staff based on that. However, it is never that simple, as teams don’t allow the public to see behind the curtain.
That was the case with the Nuggets, as nobody was happy with how things were going, despite the team fighting for home-court advantage in the playoffs.
It just goes to show how talented Nikola Jokic and some of the other top veteran players are that they were successful despite this turmoil.
More news: Former Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban Caught Looking Distraught Hearing ‘Fire Nico’ Chants
After snapping a four-game losing streak with a 124-116 victory in David Adelman’s first game as the interim head coach, it will be interesting to see how things go for the rest of the season for the Nuggets.
It is hard for any team to suddenly switch coaches, never mind just before the most important stretch of the season, but it seems at least the players will be playing with more happiness and less negative baggage.
For more NBA news and rumors, stay tuned to Newsweek Sports.
A legjobb élmény biztosítása érdekében olyan technológiákat használunk, mint a cookie-k az eszközadatok tárolására és/vagy eléréséhez. Ha beleegyezik ezekbe a technológiákba, akkor olyan adatokat dolgozhatunk fel ezen az oldalon, mint a böngészési viselkedés vagy az egyedi azonosítók. A hozzájárulás elmulasztása vagy visszavonása bizonyos funkciókat és funkciókat hátrányosan érinthet.
Functional
Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes.The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
