Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone and then-Nuggets guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (5) celebrate in the fourth quarter against the Cleveland Cavaliers at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. / David Richard-Imagn Images
ORLANDO, Fla. – The Denver Nuggets turned the NBA world upside down Tuesday, firing both coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth in a jarring late-season house-cleaning.
It’s an all-time shakeup with little to no previous precedent. Malone’s dismissal, according to ESPN, is tied for the latest coaching firing in NBA history. Malone only shares the dubious honor with Hubie Brown, who was let go with three games left in the Atlanta Hawks 1980-81 campaign.
That season, Brown’s Hawks were 31-48 and not entertaining the postseason. Malone’s Nuggets, however, currently find themselves as one of four teams between seeds Nos. 4-7 in the Western Conference at 47-32, and they can climb as high as third or fall as far as eighth by Sunday’s finale.
Forty-seven wins ties Larry Brown’s mark with the 1983 New Jersey Nets for the most victories at the time of firing.
Understandably, it’s a move the Magic didn’t see coming.
Asked about the situation prior to Tuesday’s crucial win over the Hawks, Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said it’s a conversation that feels “all too familiar” as of late.
“In situations like this, where you look up and four of the last six coaches that were in the Finals are no longer with their respective teams … You look, and as a coach, you understand the job that we’ve signed up for, and that’s very apparent,” Mosley said. “We know what comes with the territory.
“But then it makes you look at yourself as a coach individually, because you have to look back and reflect back and say, ‘Am I doing the things that I need to do every single day to continue to walk into this building and love the job? Am I enjoying the journey and the people that I’m on it with? Am I enjoying the organization that I’m with? And am I doing it, are we doing it the way that we’re supposed to be doing it?’ And that’s just self-reflection because you see that this happens in this industry.”
Mosley is among a group of 10 NBA coaches without a title on their current team to have been with their team for at least four seasons. Yet, the Malone-led Nuggets hoisted their first-ever Larry O’Brien in 2023.
But despite Nikola Jokic posting video game-like numbers and continuing to hold the crown as the best player in the world, the Nuggets are no longer the juggernaut of previous years. The lack of results is, at least partially, why Malone is no longer manning Denver’s sidelines.
One of the key pieces to that title-winning Denver team was Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, who departed for Orlando this past offseason after two years with the Nuggets.
He, like Mosley, was taken aback at Tuesday’s news.
“Shocking,” Caldwell-Pope said in Orlando’s locker room Tuesday. “Very surprising I would say, especially for me. I didn’t think it would happen. But, there’s been a lot going on over there, who knows.
“Especially where the season is at now, going into the playoffs, I was just real surprised.”
Caldwell-Pope’s relationship with Malone stems back to his rookie season, when Michael’s father, Brendan, was an assistant with the Detroit Pistons. Caldwell-Pope and Brendan Malone were together for the veteran guard’s first two seasons in Detroit before Malone’s retirement.
With that serving as the foundation, Caldwell-Pope and Michael Malone hit the ground running with their relationship heading into the 2022-23 season.
“When I got there, it was genuine,” Caldwell-Pope said of their bond. “It grew real quick, the relationship, and for me, he’s a great coach. I like the style, everything that he did and preparation that he had for us.”
A 53-win ’22-’23 campaign netted him the second championship of his career, and Denver won 57 games before bowing out in the West semis last season.
Caldwell-Pope averaged 10.4 points on 41.5 3PT% shooting during his time in the Mile High City.
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