Three head coaches entered the NBA playoffs with title hopes and emerged without a job. Coaching in the NBA is an increasingly cutthroat career, with long-term loyalty nearly impossible to find.
The Nuggets have gone against that trend since hiring Michael Malone. Now the league's fourth-longest tenured coach behind only Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, and Steve Kerr, Malone earned the Nuggets' trust over his eight seasons in Denver and has rewarded the franchise with its first-ever NBA Finals appearance.
While it helps having a two-time MVP in Nikola Jokic, Malone has pushed the right buttons in recent weeks and avoided much of the scrutiny many coaches have received throughout the playoffs.
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The journey to Denver wasn't a quick one for Malone, who paid his dues even as the son of an NBA head coach. Here's a closer look at how Malone became the coach of the NBA Finals-bound Nuggets.
Michael Malone coaching timeline
The Sporting News takes a look at Malone's coaching career, including his beginnings as an NBA assistant.
College assistant coach (1994-2001)
Malone spent seven years as an assistant coach at the collegiate level. He got his start at Oakland under Greg Kampe, but briefly, Malone was ready to put his coaching career on pause after one season. He planned to become a state police officer in Michigan until Providence's Pete Gillen offered him a job on his staff in 1995.
Malone spent three years with the Friars before taking on an administrative role for the Virginia men's basketball team in 1998. His last collegiate stop was an assistant coaching job at Manhattan from 1999 to 2001.
Assistant coach, Knicks (2001-05)
While Malone was coaching at the college level, his father was making a name for himself on NBA sidelines. Brendan Malone served as the first-ever head coach of the Raptors during the 1995-96 season, after earning a strong defensive reputation as an assistant with the Pistons from 1988-95.
While he only lasted one season in Toronto, the elder Malone would spend the next four seasons as an assistant with the Knicks. That would open the door for New York to hire the younger Malone as a coaching associate under Jeff Van Gundy in 2000. He would be promoted to assistant coach in 2003, and his father joined him on the staff for one season.
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Assistant coach, Cavaliers (2005-10)
Mike Brown hired Malone as an assistant on his staff with the Cavaliers when he was hired in 2005. As was the case when the Knicks hired Malone, the Cavaliers had some familiarity with his father. Brendan Malone served as Cleveland's interim coach for 18 games just a season earlier.
Malone spent five years working with a roster led by LeBron James, who the Nuggets swept in this year's Western Conference Finals.
Assistant coach, Hornets (2010-11)
After Mike Brown's departure from Cleveland, Malone landed with Monty Williams and the New Orleans Hornets. He spent one season on Williams' first staff in New Orleans, coaching a team that would reach the playoffs led by Chris Paul and David West. In another twist of fate, Malone and the Nuggets eliminated Williams, Paul, and the Suns in the second round of these playoffs.
Assistant coach, Warriors (2011-13)
Malone's last stop as an assistant coach came as part of Mark Jackson's staff with the Warriors. SFGATE reported in 2013 that Malone was the NBA's highest-paid assistant with Golden State, coaching on a three-year, $2.25 million deal. Together, Jackson and Malone helped oversee major improvement with Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson just starting to bud into stars.
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Head coach, Kings (2013-14)
Malone landed his first head coaching job after the 2012-13 season. The Kings moved on from Keith Smart and hired Malone away from the Warriors amid a seven-year playoff drought.
Malone's hiring didn't translate to immediate success. Sacramento went 28-54 in his first season, the same record as Smart's final season. That's what made Malone's firing in December 2014 even more unexpected.
The Kings got off to an 11-13 start in Malone's second season, which seemed like a considerable improvement for a long-suffering franchise. DeMarcus Cousins had also missed three weeks of action leading up to Malone's firing. Still, Sacramento moved on after less than two years.
According to USA Today, Kings GM Pete D'Alessandro preferred an offensive-minded coach, and his familiarity with George Karl led him to hire Karl two months later.
It took the Kings until 2023 to snap their playoff drought, and they did so under Malone's former boss, Mike Brown.
Head coach, Nuggets (2015-present)
Malone landed on his feet when the Nuggets hired him as their head coach in June of 2015. It was a difficult situation, as Denver was coming off of a 30-win season and would trade franchise point guard Ty Lawson later in the offseason.
Results weren't immediate for Malone, who coached the Nuggets to a 33-49 season in year one, but his arrival coincided with the arrival of Nikola Jokic after the Serbian big man spent a year playing overseas.
As Jokic improved, so did Malone's Nuggets. Denver went 40-42 in 2016-17, 46-36 in 2017-18, and finally returned to the playoffs with 54 wins in 2018-19. Malone's defensive-minded nature started to pay off in his fourth season, when the Nuggets jumped to sixth in opponent points per game. Denver has ranked in the top half of the league in that category ever since.
Malone guided the Nuggets to the Western Conference Final in 2020 and managed to win a playoff series without Jamal Murray in 2021, but Denver fell to the eventual champion Warriors in the first round in 2022. Rather than pressing the panic button and making a change, the Nuggets gave Malone an eighth season and have been rewarded with one of the best seasons in franchise history.
As Denver prepares for its first-ever NBA Finals appearance, Malone is four wins away from reaching the pinnacle.
