The Nuggets and ninth-year coach Michael Malone agreed to a multiyear contract extension Monday, multiple league sources confirmed to The Denver Post.
According to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the deal will make Malone “one of the league’s highest paid coaches.” The exact terms of the contract have not been disclosed. However, Malone’s previous deal, signed in March 2022, had at least one remaining year after 2023-24, meaning the new deal will keep him in Denver through at least 2026-27.
Malone, 52, led Denver to the first NBA championship in franchise history in 2022-23, his eighth season at the helm after a prior brief stint in Sacramento. He is the fourth longest-tenured head coach in the league, behind San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, Miami’s Eric Spoelstra and Golden State’s Steve Kerr — a trio of coaches who have each led their respective teams to six NBA Finals appearances.
Malone ranks third in Nuggets history for career games coached (647) and wins (375), trailing Doug Moe and George Karl in both categories. He has a .580 regular-season win percentage and a .544 playoff win percentage, making him the only coach in franchise history with a winning record in the playoffs. Dan Issel is closest (6-6 from 1993 to 2002).
After a quiet first three seasons under Malone, the Nuggets have made the playoffs five consecutive years, won a series in four of those appearances and reached the Western Conference Finals twice. Denver was eliminated by the Lakers in the 2020 bubble, the team’s deepest run of Malone’s tenure at the time, led by Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. It took another three years before the next time that tandem was healthy in the playoffs, and Denver capitalized with a dominant 16-4 run to win the title.
Malone’s time in Colorado has been tied to the development and eventually the MVP rise of Jokic, whom the Nuggets drafted 41st overall in 2014. It wasn’t until December 2016, 26 games into Malone’s second season, that Jokic won the starting center job indefinitely over Jusuf Nurkic. The Nuggets finished the year with a 40-42 record, a seven-win improvement from the previous season. Jokic went on to win league MVP in 2021 and 2022 and NBA Finals MVP in 2023.
Malone is the son of longtime NBA assistant coach Brendan Malone, who died in October, causing Michael Malone to miss the majority of Denver’s preseason. Since rejoining the team, the younger Malone has often alluded to coaching philosophies and ideas he picked up from his dad.
The Nuggets (8-2) are attempting to become the first repeat NBA champion since the Kevin Durant-Steph Curry Warriors in 2018. They host the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday (8 p.m., TNT) in their second game of the inaugural NBA in-season tournament.
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