In a season that was already full of surprising narratives, the Denver Nuggets’ decision to fire Michael Malone is easily one of the more baffling ones.
The winningest coach in franchise history was unceremoniously released with only four games remaining in the season. Cuasing turmoil in the roster is not something you’d expect a contender to do. However, Nikola Jokic and the rest of the Nuggets squad have no choice but to scramble in preparation for postseason ball.
Plenty of speculation has surrounded the circumstances surrounding Malone’s exit from the franchise. While no one will fully have a clear picture of what happened behind the scenes, the latest insider information revealed that the problems the team were dealing with were bigger than imagined.
Michael Malone reportedly denied the Denver Nuggets heirarchy’s request to trade Christian Braum
It’s understandale that Denver wanted to repeat their 2023 Finals victory as much as possible, so the higher ups wanted to surround Jokic with as much talent as possible.
It was during these efforts that Malone reportedly butted heads with senior officials in the organization.
Per Basketnews.com:
According to Marc Stein’s Substack, Malone had reportedly pushed for the Nuggets to trade young guard Christian Braun for a more established player ahead of last season’s trade deadline.
The decision to give away one of the Nuggets’ bright young players for an established player is quite shocking in hindsight. However, the 22-year-old guard didn’t exactly have the best start to his career.
The Kansas product finished his first two seasons scoring in single digits. Understandably, senior figures within thhe organization felt they cannot wait for Braun to develop and send him to another team for an already established athlete like Russell Westbrook.
However, Braun had a giant leap in production in his third campaign. It was clear that Malone made the right call in fighting for the young guard, but he may have sacrificed his job security in the process.
While Malone may take some time before taking another NBA job, Nuggets fans hope for a better postseason showing without their long-time coach.
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