Disgraced Denver Nuggets HC Mike Malone Back In The NBA....With ESPN?
Last Updated:
Malone led the Nuggets to their first NBA championship in 2023 and is the franchise's career leader in wins.
Michael Malone, who was fired by the Denver Nuggets with three games remaining in the regular season, will join ESPN for its coverage of the Western Conference finals.
The series beginning Tuesday night matches the Minnesota Timberwolves against the Oklahoma City Thunder, who eliminated Malone's former team in seven games in the second round.
Malone led the Nuggets to their first NBA championship in 2023 and is the franchise's career leader in wins. But they made the surprising decision to part ways with him and general manager Calvin Booth in the final week of the regular season.
David Adelman finished the season as Denver's coach.
As time has gone on, more and more information has been released, more specifically on Malone, that has given insight as to why the move was made.
Most recently, on 'The Ringer NBA Show", The Athletic's Sam Amick discussed more details on the situation.
'…one of the things that ended up tripping Malone up at the end was that he was giving the star treatment to Joker, to Jamal, and Russ. And that locker room was like 'Wait a minute. Two of these things are not like the other.' And that caused issues."
advetisement
While at the time of the firing, everyone was confused, especially given the timing, as more information was released, the firing of Michael Malone made more and more sense.
Malone will now work on the 'NBA Countdown" pregame and halftime studio show that will be on site at all the games in the series, joining Malika Andrews, Stephen A. Smith, Bob Myers, Kendrick Perkins, and Shams Charania.
(with agency inputs)
tags :
NBA
First Published:
May 19, 2025, 23:19 IST
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Time of India
4 hours ago
- Time of India
NBA: Gary Payton makes bold claim about Michael Jordan; believes season's Finals could go the distance
Fformer Seattle Supersonics and LA Lakers star Gary Payton speaks at an event in Mumbai. Mumbai: Gary Payton can talk about defense all day, understandably so. So good were his defensive skills back in the day, they called him 'The Glove'. So much importance he attached to the defensive side of basketball, he drilled it into his son Gary Payton II. He still does. And it's why the Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer, considered one of the best point guards of all time, believes the 2025 NBA Finals featuring Oklahoma City Thunder and the Indiana Pacers is set to be a 'great series'. 'I think this is going to be a great series. I like it because they both play defense. With both teams, you got five guys on the floor at all times who can go at each other,' Payton, a 2006 NBA champion with Miami Heat, told reporters here on Thursday. Go Beyond The Boundary with our YouTube channel. SUBSCRIBE NOW! On his maiden visit to India, the former Seattle Supersonics and LA Lakers star, who is in town for the BudX NBA House this weekend, stressed that there was more to the two finalists than just their star point guards, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Oklahoma and Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton. 'Well, it's not just these two, they lead it. But you have to understand with these two teams, they have other basketball players who are very dominant. And right now it's a different type of style of basketball than I played,' Payton said, adding: 'When I played, I could put my hands on them, I could control them and things, but you can't do that now. But what I would do with either one of the guards, I would try to trap them and make other people win the basketball game. 'With the two superstars, especially MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, you have to get the ball out of his hands. Make other people beat you. Even with Haliburton, when he has a great game, the Indiana Pacers go.' Along their path to the Finals, the Pacers were never taken to a seventh game by any of their rivals. That could be about to change as they battle the Thunder for the famed Larry O'Brien Trophy. 'I really do think it can go to seven games. The first one who loses on their home court is probably going to be the loser,' Payton said. 'They're the best two teams right now in the NBA. Oklahoma has been the best team all year winning as many games they did, 60-plus. Let's see what Indiana got for them.' Asked how he viewed the way NBA basketball has evolved and the direction it was heading in, the 56-year-old made his preference clear. 'I would rather see a lot more defense. Right now, it's a lot of offense. 'I don't want to go to a game and see somebody score 130 points. For what? And somebody has 50 points, another player has 55, that's not a watch for me. That's crazy. I think I want to see somebody stop somebody. I want to see somebody take accountability of taking a person out of the game who's very valuable to their team. That's what I want to see, and that's what I dictate to my son all the time. That's why he's got the old school basketball game to him right now, because he guards everybody from one to five and I love that. ' For his gritty display during the second half of the 1996 NBA Finals where he was tasked with guarding Michael Jordan, Payton would go on to be regarded as one of the best defensive opponents of the legendary Chicago Bulls guard. Is that how he would like to be described to basketball fans who tuned in after he was gone? 'I don't care about being the best defender of Michael Jordan. That doesn't mean anything, I was the best defender of everybody,' he shot back. 'I guarded everybody. (Michael) wasn't just a focal point for me. Everybody in the NBA was a focal point for me. I would want to be remembered as the first two-way basketball player to play on both ends of the floor. I started that. 'I really didn't care about scoring, I cared about stopping the opponent, their best player. Because if I stop them that means I stop their basketball team, because they can't function without him. My legacy started because of defense. People say that. That's great, I love it. But really, my legacy started off with me being just a complete basketball player. Both ends of the floor, complete.'
Hindustan Times
4 hours ago
- Hindustan Times
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander reveals game plan for NBA Finals' Game 2 after close loss vs Pacers
Oklahoma City Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander emphasized sticking to the team's regular-season principles after a crushing 111–110 loss to the Indiana Pacers in Game 1 of the 2025 NBA Finals on June 5, 2025. Despite leading by 15 in the fourth quarter, the Thunder fell to Tyrese Haliburton's pull-up jumper with 0.3 seconds left, per The Thunder, who topped the NBA with 68 regular-season wins, never trailed early in the opener, per Gilgeous-Alexander, the 2024–25 MVP, urged consistency, saying, 'We just got to treat it like any other game. Our character doesn't change. It's still basketball, the same game we grew up playing. The rules don't change in the Finals.' Read More: 'Man it's fun': Tyrese Haliburton after lifting Pacers with clutch show vs Thunder in NBA Finals Game 1 With 48.6 seconds left and Indiana within one, Gilgeous-Alexander, 26, missed a fadeaway that could have given OKC a three-point lead. 'I got a good look, felt good, didn't go in,' he said. 'They got a look, and it went in. Can't change it now. Just be better next game.' The loss echoed Game 1 of the Western Conference semifinals, where Denver's Aaron Gordon hit a last-second three for a 121–119 Nuggets win. OKC rebounded to win that series in seven, and Gilgeous-Alexander downplayed the setback: "Me personally, how you lose doesn't really matter. Obviously it sucks, last-second shot, the energy in the arena and stuff like that. But we lost at the end of the day. We lost game one. We've lost game one before. Read More: Why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's NBA Finals debut vs Pacers is being compared to Kobe Bryant "The series isn't first to one, it's first to four." Game 2 is set for Sunday, June 8, 2025, at 8 PM ET.
Time of India
5 hours ago
- Time of India
'Its not rocket science' -OKC Thunder's star player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gives confident reply despite the team's loss of Indiana Pacers in NBA Finals Game 1
'Its not rocket science' -OKC Thunder's star player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gives confident reply despite the team's loss of Indiana Pacers in NBA Finals Game 1 (Image Source: Getty) The NBA Finals Game 1 is over and the Indiana Pacers swept the win right under the Thunder's nose. Despite a promising start, the Oklahoma City Thunder lost the match to Indiana Pacers who showed great performance during the end, which led them to victory. Though the Thunder lost the match, their star player, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander portrayed confidence in the team in a post-match press talk. Shai went on to say that the Pacers did teach them that it's a 48-minute game and that anything can happen within those minutes. It seems that the Pacers' last minute victory has not shattered the Thunder's spirit. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gave fitting reply in the after-match interview Soon after the Oklahoma City Thunder vs. Indiana Pacers Game 1 of the NBA finals was over, which the latter won with a 110-111 score, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander appeared for the post-match interview. When asked about what the team is planning to do after losing the game to the Pacers, Shai said, 'We just got to focus on being better. This series isn't first to 1, it's first to 4, so we have four more games to get, they got three… It's not rocket science. We lost Game 1. We have to be better.' Shai Gilgeous-Alexander gives a befitting statement showing the team's confidence despite losing Game 1 of the NBA Finals (Image Source: ClutchPoints via X) It shows that the OKC Thunder have not lost their spirit and will be performing their best in the upcoming matches. Whether they will win the next game or lose again, remains to be seen. However, seeing Shai's confidence, it is clear that the team will be well-prepared next time. When Shai was asked about what happened in the game that led to the Thunder losing, he said, 'I don't know, it happened so fast. I feel like we got matched… It didn't feel like anything crazy, you just made the play with time running down… Now it's a 48 minute game, and they (Indiana Pacers) teach you that lesson more than anyone else in the league the hard way.' Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's statement during post-match talk (Image Source: NBA on ESPN via X) The OKC Thunder vs Indiana Pacers Game 1 of the NBA finals was a close match, with the former almost winning the game. However, the Pacers made the final shot and emerged victorious. Also Read: Indiana Pacers stun the crowd with an edging victory against the Oklahoma City Thunder during Game 1 of the NBA Finals
