Michael Malone coached Nikola Joki\u0107 to a championship just a few years ago.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s now on ESPN.<\/p>\n
Oh, how times change. But in this era of player empowerment, it\u2019d be silly to think Joki\u0107 didn\u2019t at least play some part in Malone\u2019s dismissal. No, Joki\u0107 isn\u2019t pulling strings and firing coaches like some imagine LeBron James does, but a three-time NBA MVP probably gets a heads-up when their head coach and GM get canned just days before the playoffs.<\/p>\n
Now that the Nuggets are out of the postseason, Malone joined ESPN\u2019s NBA studio for the Western Conference Finals<\/a>. Inside the NBA got Draymond Green<\/a>, ESPN got Malone, who\u2019ll be joining Malika Andrews, Stephen A. Smith, Bob Myers, and Kendrick Perkins on NBA Countdown.<\/p>\n Game 1 of the WCF on Tuesday saw the Oklahoma City Thunder \u2014 and newly named 2024-25 NBA MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander \u2014 run roughshod over the Minnesota Timberwolves in a 114-88 drubbing.<\/p>\n Now, rewind two months. If you asked Malone back then, when he was still coaching Denver, his MVP take would\u2019ve been different.<\/p>\n \u201cMy thing is this: if you didn\u2019t know Nikola had won three MVPs, and I put Player A and Player B on paper\u2014and you had no idea\u2014the guy averaging a triple-double, leading top three in all the major statistical categories, doing things no one\u2019s ever done? He wins MVP 10 times out of 10,\u201d Malone said. \u201cAnd I get it\u2014MVP means something different for everybody. Cool. But I will never negatively recruit. Shai\u2019s not just a good player; he\u2019s a great player. And if he wins it, I\u2019ll actually clap my hands and be happy for him, because he\u2019s such a great guy, who\u2019s a great player, and is good for this game.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not Nikola versus Shai. For me, it\u2019s me promoting my guy because I know what he means to this game. And if you look at it from a historical perspective, he\u2019s doing things no one\u2019s ever done.\u201d<\/p>\n This is what Michael Malone said just 2 months ago about Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and about who should be the MVP<\/a> That was Malone, literally two months ago.<\/p>\n Now? Malone\u2019s tune has changed.<\/p>\n \u201cShai Gilgeous-Alexander, he showed why he\u2019s the MVP,\u201d Malone said following OKC\u2019s Game 1 win. \u201cHe took over in the second half, did so in a very efficient manner, and put the team on his back when they needed him to do so.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cShai Gilgeous-Alexander, he showed why he\u2019s the MVP.\u201d<\/p>\n Michael Malone gave SGA his props after OKC\u2019s Game 1 win over Minnesota \ud83d\ude4c pic.twitter.com\/5nSAUKuCJG<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) May 21, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n So, did Malone throw shade at Joki\u0107? Depends on how you read it. But it\u2019s hard to ignore the shift from \u201cNikola\u2019s the standard\u201d coach to \u201cShai earned it\u201d analyst, especially coming from a coach who was still on an NBA bench two months ago.<\/p>\n \t
byu\/MrBuckBuck<\/a> innba<\/a><\/p>\n