David Adelman was thrown into the fire before the playoffs last year when the Nuggets made him the team’s interim head coach, and he took full advantage of the opportunity with a staff of assistant coaches that he wasn’t able to curate. Even though the Nuggets lost in Game 7 of the Conference Semifinals for the second straight year, they still went farther than many people expected them to.
After the season, Adelman cleaned house in the coaching room, as the organization didn’t renew the contracts of multiple assistants who had been with the team for years. He brought in J.J. Barea and Rodney Billups back in July, and on Friday, he made another addition to the bench.
Just In: The Denver Nuggets have added Mike Moser as an assistant coach, sources told @hoopshype. Moser moves to the front of the bench after being an assistant coach on the Rockets for Ime Udoka since 2023. Moser worked with Udoka on the Celtics too. He also worked for the Mavs. pic.twitter.com/aBviOEofSC
— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) August 15, 2025
Mike Moser, who has bounced around a handful of organizations over the years, is the newest name to join Adelman’s staff. The 34-year-old began his coaching career as a player development coach with the Dallas Mavericks in 2019, then was hired as an assistant for the Oregon Ducks’ women’s basketball team in 2021. His time with the Ducks was brief, as he was back in the NBA as an assistant on Ime Udoka and Joe Mazzula’s staff in Boston for the 2022-23 season. After that season, the year the Nuggets won the NBA championship, he reunited with Udoka as an assistant on his staff in Houston.
Moser also was a college basketball star at the start of the 2010s, as in 2012, he was an honorable mention for the AP All-American Team, a First-Team All-Mountain West nominee and a Mountain West All-Defensive Player. He spent one season at UCLA (2009-10), three seasons at UNLV (2010-2013) and one season at Oregon (2013-2014). He averaged just over 10 points and seven assists per game in his collegiate career
He went undrafted in the 2014 NBA Draft and played for the Celtics in the summer league before continuing his career overseas, where he played for six different franchises from 2014-2019.
While Moser might not have the most coaching experience, he’s been in winning environments in every stop he’s made throughout the NBA and has been mentored by great coaches such as Rick Carlisle, Jason Kidd, Udoka and Mazzula, and now brings that experience to the Nuggets bench.
