"Brain dead league" - NBA fans react to Michael Malone becoming fourth out of last six title-winning HCs to be fired

Michael Malone was shockingly relieved of his coaching duties for the Denver Nuggets on Tuesday. It was a firing nobody saw coming, considering how Malone led Nikola Jokic and his Nuggets to an NBA championship in 2023.

With only three games remaining in the regular season, David Adelman will take charge of the team for the upcoming 2025 NBA Playoffs.

A Redditor pointed out that Malone became the fourth out of the last six NBA title-winning head coaches to get fired in the last five years. The other three are Mike Budenholzer (Bucks), Frank Vogel (Lakers) and Nick Nurse (Raptors).

Championship winning coaches that were fired in the last 5 years byu/Similar-Ostrich4142 innba

Fans on social media had a lot to say regarding the firing of Michael Malone. Many were sour about Malone's departure and couldn't help but express their frustrations. Here's what some had to say on Reddit:

"Whoever wins this year will be gone in 3 years too. Brain dead league"

Comment byu/Similar-Ostrich4142 from discussion innba

"Malone the biggest surprise. Nurse and Bud kinda ran their course and Vogel didn’t deserve to get canned but it’s the Lakers and Bron so not surprising"

Comment byu/Similar-Ostrich4142 from discussion innba

"Being a coach sucks. Either you win and get zero credit or you lose and get all the blame," one said.

Other fans reacted to the Nuggets' surprise move to can Michael Malone.

"I totally don’t understand why they didn’t wait until after the playoffs. The Nuggets probably weren’t going to win, but they might’ve taken a series and that allows for a clean end to the season afterward without a PR disaster. Must’ve been something crazy behind the scenes," another said.

"The fact they’re 4th in the west right now and the playoffs are about to start? Probably the biggest surprise right f***ing there," another said.

"ngl this crazy and stupid," another said.

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Michael Malone took responsibility for four-game losing skid before firing

With only three games remaining in the Denver Nuggets' regular season, no one was expecting Michael Malone to be abruptly fired. In most cases, it's either the head coaches get fired early to mid-season or after a team's season concludes.

Malone's firing comes amid a four-game losing skid. The now-former Nuggets head coach took ownership of the team's struggles after Denver's 125-120 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Sunday.

“I’ll start with me: We’ve lost four games in a row and I’m never going to this-guy, that-guy. How about me, as a head coach, not doing my job to the best of my ability,” Malone said. “We haven’t lost four in a row in a long time. It’s really easy to be together and say ‘family’ when you win, but when you’re losing games, can you stay together?”

Looking at the NBA standings in the Western Conference, while the Denver Nuggets are sitting in fourth place, there's still a chance they could fall to the Play-In Tournament if they end up losing all of their remaining regular-season games.