Denver Nuggets fire championship-winning coach Michael Malone right before NBA Playoffs

The Denver Nuggets have fired head coach Michael Malone and won't extend the contract of general manager Calvin Booth, the National Basketball Association (NBA) team announced on Tuesday.

"It is with no pleasure that we announce that we have relieved Michael Malone of his head coaching duties, effective immediately," the Nuggets said in a statement. "David Adelman will assume our head coaching role for the remainder of the 2024-25 season. This decision was not made lightly and was evaluated very carefully, and we do it only with the intention of giving our group the best chance at competing for the 2025 NBA Championship and delivering another title to Denver and our fans everywhere."

The decision was revealed with the regular season winding down and the start of the playoffs less than two weeks away. The Nuggets are coming off four straight losses and sit in fifth place in the Western Conference with a record of 47-32, the same mark as the Los Angeles Clippers (fourth), Golden State Warriors (sixth) and Memphis Grizzlies (seventh). That means it's still possible for any of those teams to begin the playoffs either in the first round or the play-in tournament.

Since taking charge at Denver in June 2015, Malone had led the team to 471 wins in 798 games. Nikola Jokic developed from a No. 41 NBA Draft selection into a three-time NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP), and is widely considered one of the greatest offensive centers in league history. More importantly, Malone helped the Nuggets win their first and so far only NBA title in 2023.

"There is no amount of gratitude that we can properly convey to his contributions since he joined our franchise in 2015," team owner Josh Kroenke said. "It is with our utmost respect that we would like to thank Coach Malone for the most successful decade in Nuggets history, setting the all-time wins record and helping deliver Denver our first championship."

As for Booth, he has been heavily criticized for some of his moves in building the team's roster, including signing Michael Porter Jr. to a five-year, $179 million contract extension.