Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone has agreed to a multiyear contract extension with the team, it was announced Wednesday.
Terms were not released.
Malone, who had the 2022-2023 season remaining on his deal, will now be tied to the franchise through what it hopes will be a window of championship contention over the next few years.
“This extension is well deserved for Coach Malone and one we are very excited to announce,” Nuggets governor Stan Kroenke said in a statement. “You can easily point to the on-court success that Michael has brought and the improvements the team has made each year under his watch, and you can also point to the selfless, hard-working culture that has developed and grown during his tenure.”
Across seven seasons, Malone has partnered with reigning MVP Nikola Jokic and Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly to oversee an organizational renaissance, including three straight seasons of advancing in the Western Conference playoffs and a conference finals berth in 2020.
Malone ranks third in Nuggets history with 309 career victories, trailing Doug Moe and George Karl. The Nuggets have the most regular-season victories in the conference over the past three seasons, and they won 20 playoff games in the past three trips to the postseason.
The Nuggets are 43-30 this season — sixth in the Western Conference — without Jokic, Jamal Murray and Michael Porter Jr. having played a single game together. Denver ranks third in field goal percentage, second in effective field goal percentage and second in assist percentage in the NBA, according to ESPN Stats & Information research.
When trailing by 15-plus points in a game, the Nuggets have the league’s best win percentage over the past three seasons. Malone is the only coach in league history to twice overcome 3-1 playoff deficits, which he did in the same 2020 postseason run to the Western Conference finals.
In nine years as a coach, including parts of two seasons with the Sacramento Kings from 2013 to 2015, Malone is 348-304 (.534).
Source: www.espn.com