Nuggets Shockingly Fire Coach, GM After Loss To Pacers

The Indiana Pacers continue to play some of the best basketball of anyone in the NBA as the regular season winds down. They took down the Denver Nuggets on Sunday night, winning the game 125-120.

That win gave the Pacers their tenth win in the last 12 games they've played. They have won these games despite the fact that they have had multiple guys out with injuries.

Denver was disappointed with the loss, as well. They expected to win that game against the Pacers and give them a better shot to land the three-seed in the Western Conference.

Apparently, that loss was so bad for the Nuggets that it made them make wholesale changes within the organization. They decided to fire both their coach and their GM following the game.

Both coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth are now without a job after losing to the Pacers.

Full clean out: The Denver Nuggets are also firing general manager Calvin Booth, sources tell ESPN. Michael Malone and Booth both out today. pic.twitter.com/FvqOAFyOKy
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 8, 2025

Malone was the winningest head coach in Nuggets history prior to being fired. This is a decision that will surprise a lot of those around the NBA.

The Nuggets are now the second team to fire their head coach just a few weeks before the playoffs start. The Grizzlies did the same thing by canning Taylor Jenkins.

Indiana is now a good enough team to have other teams fire their coach because they lost to them. It's a wild sequence of events after Indiana won the game without having their All-Star forward, Pascal Siakam, available for this game.

More Pacers news: Pacers All-Star Reacts to Being Name-Dropped in New Rap Single

Indiana will keep rolling after this news. They have just four games left and need just one win to essentially seal up the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Meanwhile, the Nuggets are still trying to make sure they don't have to play in the play-in. Firing Malone just before the playoffs increases the odds that they will falter.

The Pacers are a good team that feels like they can beat anyone that they face in the playoffs with who they have. It's clear that the Nuggets did not believe they had that with their current organizational setup.

More Indiana Pacers news: Pacers Could Land $51M Forward in New Blockbuster Trade Proposal

Former WNBA Star Candace Parker Defends Pacers’ Contender Status

For more news and notes on the Indiana Pacers, visit Indiana Pacers on SI.