Nuggets reward Michael Malone with contract extension, raise
Michael Malone, the coach who patiently built the Denver Nuggets into NBA champions, has been rewarded by the organization.
The Nuggets have given Malone a contract extension that will make him one of the highest-paid coaches in the NBA, a story broken by Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
ESPN Sources: The Denver Nuggets’ Michael Malone — who led the franchise to the 2023 NBA championship — has agreed on a contract extension that’ll make him one of the league’s highest paid coaches. pic.twitter.com/klyGsLSYKO
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 13, 2023
Malone came to Denver in 2015 — after being let go in Sacramento, one of the truly strange firings in the NBA in recent decades — and took over a 30-win Nuggets team led by Danilo Gallinari, but with a 20-year-old Nikola Jokic trying to find his way in the league. The following year Jamal Murray was added to the roster and it was a slow, patient build from there, turning the Nuggets into an NBA power (a process slowed for a couple of years by Murray's ACL injury).
Denver is 8-2 to start this season with a +9.5 net rating (third in the league) — the Nuggets set the bar for any team that wants to consider itself a contender. Malone and his coaching acumen, as well as his understanding of these players and this roster, is a key part of that.
Malone deserved the extension, good on the Nuggets for keeping the guys core to their success and paying them well.