Report: Michael Malone, Nuggets front office not seeing ‘eye-to-eye’

Report: Michael Malone, Nuggets front office not seeing ‘eye-to-eye’

After winning their first-ever NBA Title nearly 27 months ago, the Denver Nuggets have made pretty major tweaks to their personnel. Last offseason, they lost Bruce Brown and Jeff Green in free agency while adding Justin Holiday drafting Julian Strawther , Jalen Pickett and Hunter Tyson in the 2023 NBA Draft.

They ultimately fell short of their goal of repeating, blowing a 20-point second-half at home in Game 7 to the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference semifinals. They followed up last summer by adding Russell Westbrook in free agency and drafting Dayton big DaRon Holmes II No. 22 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft. Though they lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope to the Orlando Magic and traded Reggie Jackson to the Charlotte Hornets.

According to ESPN NBA insider Zach Lowe, there are “rumblings” that head coach Michael Malone and the front office aren’t quite in lock-step with one another.

“There are rumblings–rumblings!–that the coaching staff and front office, or at least the head coach and the front office, aren’t exactly seeing eye to eye in Denver,” Lowe said , according to Hoopshype. “To a degree even unusual for the NBA.”

Losing Caldwell-Pope and Brown in subsequent offseasons–two contributors to their title run–is a blow. While I still remain bullish on the long-term prospects of Christian Braun , Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson , it’s not an easy task to step in and supplement that kind of production.

Part of being in a functional front office is making sure everyone’s on the same page. After all, Malone, 52, is one of the best head coaches in the NBA. He agreed to an extension in November to keep him on contract through the 2026-27 season. His input should carry as much weight as anyone’s, even if he doesn’t have the final say on personnel decisions.

In 11 combined seasons with the Sacramento Kings and Nuggets, Malone is 463-362 (.561), finishing in the top-10 in Coach of the Year voting four times, including in the top-5 twice in 2018-19 (3rd) and 2022-23 (5th). The son of longtime NBA assistant and two-time head coach Brendan Malone, Michael Malone (424) is nine wins shy of becoming the Nuggets’ all-time winningest head coach. Doug Moe , the team’s head coach from 1980-90, won 432 games over his 10 seasons.

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