On Tuesday, April 8, the Denver Nuggets fired not only their GM, Calvin Booth, but in shocking fashion, fired former NBA Champion head coach Mike Malone. 

With just three games left in the regular season, the Nuggets felt it was best to fire their head coach heading into the playoffs. Nuggets Lead Assistant Coach David Adelman will be taking over head coaching duties for the remainder of the season. With that information out of the way, let’s get into how much sense this move makes.

Despite the Thunder being massive favorites to win the western conference, the Nuggets are still clear contenders, and could even serve as a team capable of taking the top dogs down, making these moves even more confusing. Somehow, this isn’t even the wildest thing we’ve seen all NBA season either. Magic Johnson shared his thoughts on today’s events along with the NBA season via X.

“I’ve been part of the NBA family for over 45 years and I’ve never seen a season like this,” Johnson said. “First, two superstars get traded in the middle of the regular season, Luka Doncic for Anthony Davis, and now two coaches, Denver’s Michael Malone and the Grizzlies’ Taylor Jenkins, get fired before the end of the regular season and their teams have already secured a spot in the playoffs.”

This certainly hurts the Nuggets’ chances in this year’s NBA playoffs, and who knows what is next for the Denver Nuggets? Could it be possible for the best player of the decade to request a trade and for the Nuggets to blow their organization up? After the trades and changes NBA franchises have made this season, I would certainly say nothing would surprise me anymore. 

As a fan of basketball, I would just hate to see Jokic’s talent be wasted on an organization that is not trying to win now and the best players should always be on the biggest stages. 

What the Nuggets need is depth. According to StatMuse, the Nuggets are at the bottom of the league in both bench points and minutes per game this season.

They have an exceptional starting lineup, with all five of the starters averaging double figures. Christian Braun and Aaron Gordon have solidified themselves as winning pieces and Westbrook has also done what he has needed to do filling in for Murray when injured. 

Looking at the seventh and eighth guys down in the rotation, though, it starts to look worse. Julian Strawther and Peyton Watson are simply not championship-winning pieces, and championship-winning teams need to be complete all around.

One thing is for sure: whoever is able to win the Mike Malone sweepstakes will reap the benefits of hiring a championship-winning head coach.

For comments/questions about this story DM us on Instagram @TheWhitSports or email sports@thewhitonline.com