DENVER—Michael Malone is now the winningest head coach in the Denver Nuggets’ record books, earning victory 433 after the team’s 127-102 win over Los Angels on Saturday—a fitting triumph given Malone’s the lone man to slay the Lakers.
Malone, 53, is in his tenth year leading the Mile High City Hoopers and led the team to their lone NBA Championship. The Nuggets have had seven straight winning seasons and are expected to make that eight this season. He’s the only coach franchise icon Nikola Jokic has ever known and Denver’s gritty style will resonate with the franchise long past Malone’s days on the sideline.
Malone passed Doug Moe’s mark of 432 wins with the Nuggets latest victory. Moe coached the team from 1980 through 1990, defining what the golden era of Denver hoops was before Malone’s tenure. Moe’s up-and-down teams captained by Alex English in rainbow jerseys is a lasting image
Moe led the franchise to the conference finals in 1984-1985, where the team lost to the Lakers. A story all too familiar in Nuggets history where the franchise’s high water mark was losing to Los Angeles in the West Finals. They did that in 2008-09 when George Karl’s best team flamed out against the Lakers there. Karl coached the Nuggets to 423 wins during his nine years at the helm. Malone was the first to break through that barrier, though the Nuggets lost in their first conference finals to the Lakers during his time. They came back a few years later and swept the Lakers en route to the 2023 championship then they topped Los Angeles again a year later in the 2024 postseason.
Malone has another 44 wins in Denver during the postseason which is by far the most by any coach.
Malone will be known as the whistle next to Jokic’s brilliance, the bench boss for all the amazing Jamal Murray moments and all the times the Nuggets have pulled off improbable things—the seven-person win in Utah, the multiple 3-1 comebacks and the never-say-die attitude that has carried. Aside, without Malone who knows if Jokic ever starts in the NBA or how he develops. Same could be said for Murray and Michael Porter Jr—the trio of which are already some of the greatest players in team history.
The coach is under contract through the 2026-27 season so Malone could absolutely shatter Moe’s long-standing mark. While coaching Denver to one title was the best coaching accomplishment in franchise history, getting a second could be even sweeter and tougher.
Malone was hired after two years leading the Kings where he was fired. A long-time assistant around the NBA before, his father was a lifelong coach. The son will be remembered in Denver sports history for as long as they play basketball.
Moe’s 432 has hung in the rafters at Ball Arena for years, it’s a sign that Malone will likely have his final tallying hanging alongside Jokic’s No. 15 one day.
not enough people are talking about this iykyk
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— Jake Shapiro (@shapalicious.bsky.social) November 22, 2024 at 8:35 PM
