The Denver Nuggets Fired Michael Malone | HOOPS Daily, 4/9/2025
Denver cleans house, Luka heads back to Dallas, and more.
The Tip-Off: Thinking of Jaylen Wells
UPDATE: Wells has been diagnosed with a broken wrist but is awake, alert, and undergoing further testing. He even shared this story on his Instagram1:
Prayers up for Grizzlies rookie Jaylen Wells, who had to be stretchered off the court after a nasty fall on Tuesday vs. the Hornets. Wells was attempting a fast-break dunk when KJ Simpson Jr. undercut him, leading to an extremely hard fall that left Wells out on the court for minutes. Simpson Jr. immediately realized something was wrong and called for the Hornets’ medical team to come help, standing close by with tears in his eyes the whole time.
It was a little surreal seeing both teams and fans in the stands all praying for Wells and I don’t know how they were able to set that aside and resume the game. Simpson Jr. was ejected for a flagrant 2 foul on the undercut but even the Grizzlies announcers recognized there was no malicious intent, it was just a terrible accident that went about as bad as possible. I won’t put the replay here cause the different angles are a little bit hard to watch but I’m sure you can find it.
Mid-Week Headlines
Ja Morant’s New 3pt Celebration
Ja Morant was very publicly criticized last week and even fined $75,000 for continuing to use finger guns as a 3-pt celebration.2 This week, Ja debuted a new celebration and I think it’s time we commend him for his commitment to the bit. Here’s the new one:
Bro lobbed a grenade into the crowd and the Grizzlies announcers seemed confounded at what he was doing. Either that or they’re the greatest damage control and PR experts we’ve seen in years. I know Ja has had off-court issues involving brandishing guns among other concerning lacks of judgement, so I understand why he has a shorter leash than the half a dozen or so other stars who do similar celebrations that I’ve seen repeatedly posted everywhere to point out the league’s double standard. But if he gets fined or punished in any way for this one then I’ll know that the league has lost all sense of humor. The pantomime grenade is unbelievable and should be continued unless we hit the off-season and he starts wearing one of these out around town.
Boston and New York Battle Down to the Wire in a Thriller
The Knicks probably aren’t the team to enjoy moral victories but since their first three matchups vs Boston saw them lose by 23, 27, and 13, I’m willing to bet they were encouraged at least a little bit. This was an incredible game from start to finish and it’s always a lot of fun to watch big-time players show up when the going gets tough.
Karl Towns had 34pts/14r and Jalen Brunson looked almost back to normal in his second game back from a bad ankle sprain, posting 27pts/9a in 38 minutes of action. As has been the story most of this season though, Boston was simply too much in the end. It’s interesting because this was a game where Boston used a much shorter lineup and only had Jaylen Brown for 22 largely inefficient minutes as they continue to manage injuries to get ready for the playoffs. But with Jayson Tatum and former Knick Kristaps Porzingis combining for 66 of Boston’s 119pts, the Celtics were able to push their record to 20-4 since the All Star break. Which somehow feels like it has been widely under-looked as we head into the post-season.
Milwaukee’s 34-3 Run Shocks Timberwolves
This has to be seen to be believed. I’ll post the highlights below but I just want to say one thing: this playoff race out West is so tight that losing this game dropped them from a tie for 5th place in the standings down to 8th and not hosting a Play-In game. Minnesota has looked so good in recent weeks but this opened all of the usual concerns that teams with Rudy Gobert tend to find themselves with this time of year.
Luka Doncic Gets Ejected From Game vs. Thunder After Chirping at a Fan
I hate when things like this happen and I have to sound like a super bias Lakers fan because I promise I try not to but what happened with this game was a bunch of BS. The Lakers were up one when Doncic was assessed his second technical of the game and sent to the locker room. After that, OKC went on a 29-12 run as the fans went wild and the Lakers seemed to have their frustrations boil over. And I’ve seen tons of arguments online already so I’m not trying to be a homer but, we have no way of knowing if that OKC run would’ve happened either way. Yes, they’ve done that to teams all year but considering the Lakers just beat this them by almost 30pts two days ago, it stands to at least reason that Doncic being kicked out certainly changed the complexion of things. Not to mention the reason Doncic was ejected was eventually revealed to be one of the dumbest of the season. Earlier in the game a fan heckled Luka when he missed a shot, minutes later, Doncic made a shot and chirped back at the fan but because NBA officials seem to think that every little thing is a slight against them, referee J.T. Orr thought Luka was talking to him so Luka was quickly assessed a technical and sent on his way.
The fan involved even got interviewed post-game and shared his thoughts on the incident.
“During the game within the game, I mentioned that he was short and he missed it and he turned around and he shot an explicative [sic] back and J.T. [Orr] happened to see it and that point, T’d him up." - Thunder fan Jeremy Price on his exchange with Luka Doncic
I don’t understand how the NBA can see things like this and be totally confident heading into the playoffs. This was a great regular season game with a ton of star power, and an overemotional ref ruined it. There needs to be some room for clearer heads to prevail because I don’t understand how they didn’t say “My bad, I mis-interpreted that, never mind on the technical.”3 Do you think J.T. Orr would’ve burst into flames or the other refs would’ve carried him off to silence him before he could admit fault or reverse a call?
Anyways, I’ll stop this crash out now. The Thunder are a very good team and they’ve destroyed opponents with back-breaking avalanche runs all season, there’s a good chance it would’ve happened with Luka on the court and it was unavoidable but I just wish we could’ve seen it happen naturally.
The Denver Nuggets Fired Michael Malone
Less than two years ago, Michael Malone helped lead the Denver Nuggets to the NBA title, their first in the franchise’s history. The pairing of Malone’s old school intensity and Nikola Jokic’s transcendent “do-it-all” game helped make Malone the winningest coach in Nuggets’ history. On Tuesday though, with three games left in Denver’s regular season, his 10-year stint as Nuggets coach came to a shocking end. Malone was fired and it was announced GM Calvin Booth’s contract would not be extended past the end of this season. It’s a shocking end at a shocking time: Denver has lost four-straight games and could very well find themselves slipping from fourth in the West standings down into the Play-In tournament if they can’t get it figured out.
"For Taylor to get fired at this late stage of the season and for them to be where they are is really shocking and odd. I just can't wrap my head around it."
- Michael Malone when asked about the Grizzlies firing Taylor Jenkins
Denver fired him just 11 days later
11 days ago, the Grizzlies stunned the NBA by firing Taylor Jenkins, a coach who had continually seemed to maximize the talent on their roster while navigating numerous injuries and issues every year. This move is even more shocking in that Malone is a championship-winning coach and firing him so close to the playoffs when he has Denver currently as a home-court advantage team in the standings despite all of Denver’s top guys (Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr) missing some extended time feels disrespectful to his previous successes. But in the wake of the Grizzlies firing Jenkins, it seems like this is just another signal that the league is shifting into unchartered waters.
Since the news broke this morning, there have been all sorts of reports indicating that Calvin Booth and Michael Malone have essentially never gotten along, two opposing schools of thought that clashed as Malone focused on playing veteran players while Booth valued playing younger guys to develop them. In the end, it seems like Denver wanted something different altogether. With the roster struggling in recent games and with key free agent departures impacting the team maybe more than management anticipated, the decision was made to just clean house.
“I wake up every day saying this could be my last day. You want this for as long as you can, but at the same time, you’re also replaceable…Every day I remind myself of my own mortality.”
- I don’t think I even need to say it for you to know which coach this is but… this is Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla when asked for his thoughts about Malone’s firing
For what it’s worth, everything I’ve seen reported says that Jokic and Malone had a good relationship but that other players were less confident in him. I can’t fathom this decision being made without Jokic’s input but also, within about 10 minutes of the news “Jokic to the Lakers” was trending with photoshops of him and Luka Doncic together sending Lakers fans into hysteria.4 I don’t think the rest of the NBA needs to worry about that yet (unless Denver hires Nico Harrison to replace Booth) but it’s crazy to see how fast a situation can shift now.
Maybe the writing on the wall should’ve been seen more clearly, just two weeks ago Malone gave a post-game conference where he criticized his players’ lack of detail.
“They'll say ‘coach is tripping’... Nobody watches their minutes, nobody watches film…”
- Former Nuggets coach Michael Malone
I’ve already seen his name floated as a potential Phoenix candidate should they part with coach Bud this off-season but I think that’d be just as ill-fitting a match. Malone’s hard-nosed style clearly ruffled people the wrong way in Denver, and dropping him into Phoenix which had similar issues with coach Bud seems like a recipe for disaster. My guess is Malone instantly shoots near the top of the list of potential Gregg Popovich replacements should the Hall of Fame coach be unable to return next season but that’s just early speculation.
Finally, Christian Braun was essentially tapped to help the team handle the loss of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to free agency last year. All he’s done is have a Most Improved Player-caliber season and average career numbers across the board. Basically, there’s no way you can slice this that makes it make sense to pull the plug now and I wish ownership had to do media-style press conferences so we can get more than the insane reported message he sent to the team in the immediate aftermath.
“Play hard and have fun."
- Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke to the team after firing head coach Michael Malone with three games left in the regular season.
I don’t know if “fun” is the phrase to describe this team heading into whatever comes next. They have one championship but even that feels like underachieving with how transcendent Nikola Jokic has been. With one tradeable first-round pick in 2031 and only three firsts until 2030, their draft moves will be limited. And that’s not mentioning the 4-year/$208 million extension they signed Jamal Murray to that takes effect next year, the $40 million per year they’re giving Michael Porter Jr the next two years, and the need to pay Christian Braun, the player they let KCP walk for, in the near future as well. I know it’s all photoshops and pipe dreams now but keep an eye on Nikola Jokic because who knows what they could decide to do to try to solve this mess they suddenly find themselves in.
At the Buzzer
- Cavaliers blowout the Bulls, 135-113 to secure #1 seed in the East
- Women of San Antonio play Pop the Balloon with Charles Barkley
- Austin Reaves on Anthony Davis trade: “He literally has a prank TV show, I thought it was one of those.”
- Phoenix Suns officially eliminated from post-season with 38pt blowout loss at home to the Warriors
- Carmelo Anthony’s live reaction to Michael Malone firing
Tonight’s Key Games
LAKERS AT MAVERICKS
This might be the most anticipated game of the season at this point as Luka Doncic heads into Dallas for his first game in Dallas as an opponent. The Mavericks have battled through injuries and turmoil all year and still somehow find themselves in the Play-In if the season ended today. So both sides will be playing with a lot to prove and a lot on the line.
Celtics at Magic
Nuggets at Kings
Thunder at Suns
Rockets at Clippers
What a bizarre day for the NBA. It’s never good when the off-court storylines overshadow the on-court product with less than a week until the playoffs start. Anyways, thank you for reading this. If you are reading this, I hope you’re having a great day and that that great day continues for the rest of the week. Take care.
This is 2025 Grit n Grind right here
Yes, I’m aware of how absurd that sentence sounds.
It’s because for some reason professional sports referees seem to think they’re Gods that walk with the Earth with the ability to be judge, jury, and executioner as they literally decide games on hurt feelings and a whim. Or it’s gambling. When in doubt, we can just assume sports betting has crept into every single inch of sports because we can’t have nice things.
Genuinely I wouldn’t be shocked if there were some Lakers fans that just have every single player photoshopped into an LA jersey right now just in case. Probably already have Wemby and Cooper Flagg ready to go.