Michael Malone says he’s not done coaching, Nuggets could’ve done more to win another title

Oct 24, 2025, 1:31 PM

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Michael Malone is one of the greatest head coaches in the history of the Denver Nuggets. He won a championship — something else that no other head coach has done in the Mile High City — and was the lead man on the sidelines for one of the winningest eras in Nuggets history. His time in Denver came to a quick close at the end of the 2025 season, as the vibes were low amidst a losing streak ahead of the playoffs, and the organization thought it was best to part ways with him.

No coach in Nuggets history has won more games than Malone in the regular season (471) and the playoffs (44). He did have Nikola Jokic on his side, a massive advantage that no other coach in team history had, but he still carried his weight to tally the accolades that he did.

In his first season not on a coaching staff since the 1998-99 season, when he was Virginia’s director of men’s basketball administration, Malone has found himself a gig with ESPN to showcase his knowledge to the NBA viewers on different studio shows. On Thursday, he appeared on “Inside the NBA” and talked about what his life looks like now without coaching, starting with what he misses most about being on an NBA sideline.

“I love building something, preparing, being organized, but the most important thing that I miss is being a part of something much bigger than myself, being in that locker room with the players, being with the coaching staff celebrating a big win. I love my wife, I love my kids, I love my dogs, but I do miss being a part of that team camaraderie, locker room atmosphere, and I look forward to getting back to that,” Malone said.

That last sentiment is the most important one. Just because the Nuggets fired him doesn’t mean that he’s not done coaching, something that he also said in September.

“I’m definitely not done coaching. Coaching is in my blood. I got that from my father, and I’m excited to get back coaching on those sidelines and teaching once again.”

MICHAEL MALONE JOKES ABOUT DOING MORE WITH THE BENCH

Malone was asked by Charles Barkley about the Nuggets’ main weakness throughout his team as the head coach, the bench. The non-Jokic minutes plagued this team night in and night out, and lost them some important games because the game fell apart in the few minutes that Jokic wasn’t out there. He had some fun with his response.

“Yeah, maybe I’m still coaching tonight,” he chuckled.

Malone then went on talk about what went wrong, and while he didn’t name any names, he certainly seemed irritated with how the organization chose to try and develop young talent coming off the championship rather than utilizing more veterans off the bench like they did in 2023.

“For me, I’m greedy,” Malone said. “Let’s do everything we can within our power to be even better next year. We made a decision as an organization at that time to try to develop a lot of young players. And it’s really hard to have an expectation to win a championship and also develop three four young guys at the same time.”

Developing the young guys was Calvin Booth’s way of thinking, the general manager who was fired at the same time as Malone. They weren’t seeing eye-to-eye down the stretch and it resulted in them both being canned.

“Hindsight is 20/20. I felt we could have done more. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.”

The Nuggets now a good group of veterans on the bench in Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr. and Jonas Valanciunas, something that was missing the last two seasons. While Malone never got the opportunity to run things back with his vets, Nuggets Nation is hoping that newly appointed head coach David Adelman can do so.