{"id":52694,"date":"2025-05-23T22:14:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-23T22:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/52694\/"},"modified":"2025-05-23T22:14:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-23T22:14:09","slug":"michael-malone-says-he-still-backs-nikola-jokic-for-mvp-i-want-to-make-sure-the-people-in-denver-know-that","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/52694\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Malone says he still backs Nikola Jokic for MVP: “I want to make sure the people in Denver know that”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The last two months have been rather tumultuous for the Denver Nuggets<\/a> and their fans. It all began with the sudden firing of coach Michael Malone<\/a> ahead of the playoffs, with GM Calvin Booth also receiving a similar directive. A move aimed to create a sense of urgency within the organization.<\/p>\n

Looking at the recent turn of events, one can assume that the Nuggets have been dealing with their fair share of internal turmoil. Adding to it have been the inconsistent performances since winning the chip in 2023 and the over-dependence on Nikola Jokic<\/a>,\u00a0which appears to be firing back.<\/p>\n

Playing back-to-back seven-game series, Denver had Oklahoma hand them a semi-final exit. After proceeding to the WCF, the Thunder showed complete dominance in Game 1. Addressing OKC’s win, Mike Malone mentioned how Shai showed he was the true MVP<\/a>, stirring up social media.<\/p>\n

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In what appeared to be a subtle dig from the ex-Nuggets coach at “The Joker.” Currently serving as an analyst for ESPN, Malone cleared his stance when it came to his loyalties.<\/p>\n

“When Nikola won his first of his three MVPs, and I did vote for him again this year, if I had a vote, wanna make sure the people in Denver know that. Because right now, I’m getting a lot of heat back home,” said<\/a> Malone, who coached the Nuggets between 2015 and 2025.<\/p>\n

Malone called SGA a foul artist<\/p>\n

Raising the Michael Jordan trophy ahead of the Game Two tip-off, Shai proved why there should be no doubt about him winning MVP. The Canadian native dropped 38 points on 12-for-21 shooting and had three steals. The Thunder guard made 15 trips to the free-throw line as well.<\/p>\n

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Addressing OKC’s Game 2 win, Malone was asked if there was any way to guard SGA, to which the 53-year-old responded.<\/p>\n

“It’s almost impossible. A lot of times, offensive players like Shai will initiate the contact or hook his arm looking to draw that contact. He is a foul artist,” Malone told<\/a> SportsCenter host SVP.<\/p>\n

Malone’s recent statements have certainly raised a lot of questions. Many felt the veteran tried to make up for his previous comments to appease fans in Denver. That said, one also needs to account for the fact that the ex-Nuggets coach’s new assignment with ESPN requires him to be objective. Thus, there is no scope for personal bias, whether it is Jokic or SGA.<\/p>\n

Related: Michael Jordan told Phil Jackson that Scottie Pippen was the second-best player on the 1992 Dream Team: “He was a legitimate star”<\/a><\/p>\n

A decade-long association with “The Joker”<\/p>\n

Arriving in Denver around the same time, Malone and Jokic would go on to form one of the most successful coach-player duos in recent times. Present from the get-go, the ex-Nuggets coach was instrumental in developing the Serbian big man.<\/p>\n

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Guiding the “The Joker” to three MVPs, one NBA title, and Finals MVP, the ex-Nuggets coach had a 449-293 record with Jokic. The coach-player duo posted a 60.5 winning percentage. Unfortunately, there seemed to be some misses in the last two years.<\/p>\n

As a consequence, the Nuggets management decided to let go of Malone, a decision that many were taken aback by, given the championship-winning coach’s contributions to the franchise. Facing yet another semi-final exit, one can expect major announcements from Denver over the summer.<\/p>\n

Related: Hardaway says Jokic is dominating without needing the spotlight: “Jokic is like, ‘I don’t want that. I’m just gonna do the job for the team that pays me”<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The last two months have been rather tumultuous for the Denver Nuggets and their fans. It all began…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":52695,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3781],"tags":[7,301,187,3943,4231,6,253,302],"class_list":{"0":"post-52694","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-nuggets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-nuggets","11":"tag-denvernuggets","12":"tag-michael-malone","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-nikola-jokic","15":"tag-nuggets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114559455600348706","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52694\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/52695"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}