Michael

Malone

It is finally public knowledge, though it had previously been reported on about a week before this announcement. After leading Denver to an NBA championship last year, Malone is now one of the highest-paid coaches in the league and is signed to the team through the 2026-27 season.

Denver is unable to meet the NBA’s minimum requirement of available players (eight) due to COVID-19 cases, hence the decision to postpone Thursday’s game. Whether or not the Nuggets will be able to travel for Saturday’s game against the Rockets has yet to be determined. As for the Warriors, their next scheduled game is Saturday against the Jazz.

The Nuggets were blown out of the building Saturday afternoon, losing 115-95. Afterward, Malone did not hold back. “Our starters were awful,” he said. “The urgency has to be there. Maybe this will be a wake-up call for our starting group just to play harder,” Malone added. “There’s no silver linings when you get your a-- kicked in a playoff game,” the coach said. “I can’t believe we’re actually talking about playing hard in a playoff game. That should be a given.” We’ll see how the Nuggets respond when Game 5 in Denver tips off on Tuesday.

The Nuggets were initially scheduled to play in Charlotte on Friday, but that game has been postponed due to COVID-19 contact tracing for the Hornets. The Cavs also have a five-day gap in the schedule after Wednesday’s game vs. the Spurs was postponed, so they’ll each pick up a new game in an attempt to avoid back-loading the schedule more than necessary.

Add another game to the list of postponements due to COVID-19. Contact tracing within the Pistons roster is the reason for this one. Denver hosted Utah on Sunday, while Detroit last played Saturday night against Golden State. The Pistons are scheduled to visit the Jazz Tuesday night, and that game may be in jeopardy due to this development. Denver isn’t scheduled to play again until Thursday against the Lakers in Los Angeles.

Malone has done an excellent job of developing Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, and last year’s run to the No. 2 seed out West was thoroughly impressive given the multitude of injuries he was dealing with. Malone owns a winning record of 194-163 in Denver, so this was a fairly easy decision for the franchise.

Cruising into the All-Star break with a 39-18 record, the Nuggets have been one of the NBA best team’s all season long. Connelly deserves plenty of credit for constructing such a deep and balanced roster.

Malone was a top assistant for the Warriors and was a part of their surprising success this season. Malone had assistant jobs with the Cavs as well as the Hornets, plus his dad was the first head coach of the Toronto Raptors, so he does have the pedigree. There has been speculation of this signing due to new owner Vivek Ranadive coming from Golden State. The fourth year of the deal in a team option and he should be introduced in the coming days.

Malone finally gets a chance to become a head coach, and Vivek Ranadive is showing that he’ll gladly pluck from the Warriors’ tree when it comes to shaping his new team. Keith Smart was informed on Thursday he won’t be back next season, something that was always expected. A formal announcement from the Kings is expected on Friday.

ESPN reported Friday that Chris Wallace had become the early top contender in the search, but sources told Stein that Ranadive is still interested in making a splashy hire. Unfortunately for the Kings, Stein also reports that if Bird does return to the NBA it’s expected to be in the Pacers’ front office, where he was amicably replaced by Donnie Walsh. Ranadive’s hiring of Mike Malone as coach is also a hindrance to landing a big-name front office executive, who would likely want to choose his own head coach. The Kings are also expected to interview Mike Dunleavy for the GM position.