Why Michael Malone Can Succeed at North Carolina According to the Star Who Knows Him Best—Nikola Jokić

Jokić, who won an NBA title and three MVP awards during his time playing for Malone, was asked about his coach’s surprising move to college basketball on Monday night.

Nikola Jokić developed into one of the NBA’s best players with the Nuggets under Michael Malone. | Kyle Terada-Imagn Images

For a decade, there were few more accomplished player-coach combinations than the Nuggets’ Nikola Jokić and Michael Malone. The two joined Denver in 2015, Jokić famously as an unheralded mid-second round draft pick, who was drafted in ‘14 and joined the team the same year that the franchise hired Malone, who was coming off of a short stint with the Kings.

Jokić was an All-Rookie selection in 2016 and by ‘19, made his first All-Star Game. He would go on to win three MVPs under Malone and the pair led Denver to its first NBA championship in ‘23. The Nuggets have experienced diminishing returns in the years after that title, though, and Malone was surprisingly fired just ahead of the playoffs in 2025.

Malone, who worked as an ESPN analyst during his time away from coaching, was expected to re-enter the NBA fold before long. Instead, he will take on a very different challenge: re-establishing North Carolina as a college basketball power.

The 54-year-old is not a total stranger to the college game, though he hasn’t coached at that level in 25 years, having served as an assistant at Oakland, Providence and Manhattan between 1994 and 2001. The transfer portal and NIL have completely transformed the college game since he last coached on campus. And yet, basketball is basketball, and Jokić believes his former coach will have a lot of success because he’ll be able to focus in on the on-court aspects of the game.

"I think he's going to do a really good job because he can 𝑨𝑪𝑻𝑼𝑨𝑳𝑳𝒀 coach the guys and teach them how to play the game the right way."

"I'm happy for him."

Nikola Jokic on Michael Malone taking the North Carolina job 🃏🎙️ pic.twitter.com/3NSdkjCj3c

— DNVR Nuggets (@DNVR_Nuggets) April 7, 2026

“I’m happy for him. ... I wish him all the luck,” Jokić said after the Nuggets beat the Trail Blazers 137–132 Monday. “I think it’s a little bit different just because he was coaching NBA for how many years — 12, 15 years? But he definitely has the poise and the brain to do it.

“I think he’s gonna do a really good job because he can actually coach the guys. He’s gonna have time to coach the guys and teach them how to play the right way.”

Jokić, who did not play college basketball and admits he struggles to follow the “slow” game, perhaps inadvertently touches on an interesting aspect of modern college coaching. Historically, college basketball coaches ran their own fiefdoms, recruiting, developing players and choosing support staff. That has shifted quite a bit in the NIL era, not every program has the same structural setup.

North Carolina hired former sports agent and Tar Heels alumnus Jim Tanner to be the program’s first general manager in 2025. It remains to be seen how much control Malone will have over all facets of the program, or whether it will be more of a collaborative effort with Tanner and others to build out a roster. His impressive salary—a reported $50 million of six years, good enough to make him the second-highest paid men’s college hoops coach—would indicate that North Carolina expects him to have significant influence upon all aspects of the program.

Some coaches, however, have given up some personnel control to focus more entirely on coaching and development, in which Jokić believes Malone could thrive at this level.

When the Tar Heels fired alumnus Hubert Davis, the program was expected to try and poach the coach of an established power like Arizona’s Tommy Lloyd or Michigan’s Dusty May. Instead, they may have only facilitated contract extensions for those two to stay put. Rather than go down the line of current college coaches, UNC is making a big swing with an NBA champion. His most notable former superstar believes he’s up for the challenge.

Malone will be introduced as Tar Heels coach at 6 p.m. ET on Tuesday.

Nikola Jokić isn’t the only Nuggets star to wish Michael Malone well on the North Carolina job

Jamal Murray and Michael Malone shared a close player-coach relationship during their time together with the Nuggets. | Benny Sieu-Imagn Images

Guard Jamal Murray and forward Aaron Gordon, two more key players with the 2023 NBA championship team, had kind words for their former coach, per The Denver Post.

“Shoutout to Coach Malone,” said Murray. “I think he’ll be great. I think he’ll be a great college coach. I think his daughter is there as well. So I think it’s a win-win for him, and I think he’ll enjoy his next chapter of his coaching career.”

“I think it’s gonna be good for him,” said Gordon. “I think it’ll be a change of pace. I think he’s gonna be a great coach for that program.”

UNC has a European seven-footer with a versatile offensive game on the roster—if Malone can hang onto him—in Henri Veesaar

Henri Veesaar was a major bright spot for North Carolina during the 2025–26 season. | Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

The 2025–26 season wound up being a disappointment for the Tar Heels, resulting in Davis’s dismissal, but junior center Henri Veesaar was a success story for the program.

An Estonia native and Arizona transfer, Veesaar emerged as one of North Carolina’s top players, and helped fill the void in the frontcourt after the injury to star freshman forward Caleb Wilson. Veesaar averaged 17 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.2 blocks per game, playing an average of 31.4 minutes per game. He shot an impressive 60.8% from the field and 42.6% from three, attempting three attempts from deep per game.

While no one quite shares the skillset of Jokić, a seven-footer who can score from anywhere on the court while leading the NBA in both rebounds and assists, Veesaar’s ears likely perked up when hearing that the program was bringing in Malone, the coach who helped unlock Jokić’s potential.

Of course, player retention is never a guarantee. Veesaar has already transferred once, and should be in for a major NIL payday in 2026–27 ... that is, if he doesn’t opt to test the NBA waters.

Veesaar was one one the 50 players included in Kevin Sweeney’s mid-February NBA draft big board for Sports Illusrated. He projects as a late-first or early-second round pick in the 2026 draft. And he should be one of the first players Malone speaks to now that he is officially the new Tar Heels coach.

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