Nikola Jokic, Nuggets react to UNC basketball hiring Michael Malone as coach

Bennett Durando, The Denver Post on Apr 7, 2026

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DENVER — Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets saluted former coach Michael Malone as he transitioned to the college game Monday with a shocking move to North Carolina.

“I’m happy for him,” Jokic said. “Probably a little bit different. Was he ever a coach in college? No?”

Malone was in fact a college hoops assistant coach throughout the 1990s, before he entered the NBA, Jokic was informed.

“Yeah, that doesn’t matter,” the Nuggets’ three-time MVP center joked.

News of UNC men’s basketball hiring Malone to replace Hubert Davis was the talk of Ball Arena on Monday. Denver’s only Tar Heel, Cam Johnson, joked that he had already been asked for his opinion dozens of times when the topic came up with reporters. He was traded to the Nuggets three months after they fired Malone in 2025, so he was more curious to hear what his teammates had to say.

“Honestly, I don’t really know Coach Malone,” Johnson said. “I came 17 games too late. But I’ve been talking to the guys, and they think that he’s gonna be a good fit for what we’ve got going on back there. I wish him the best. I’ll probably connect with him soon.”

Denver’s veteran players were able to congratulate him more thoughtfully, speaking from experience.

“I wish him all the luck,” Jokic said. “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.”

The end of Malone’s 10-year Nuggets tenure was abrupt and awkward. His voice grew stale in the locker room and his intense personality grated on players, as team and league sources detailed to The Denver Post last year. He was fired with three games remaining in the regular season, along with former general manager Calvin Booth.

Still, Malone left Denver as the winningest coach in Nuggets history with 471 regular-season victories and the franchise’s only NBA championship in 2023.

“Shoutout to Coach Malone,” said Jamal Murray, the veteran star guard to whom Malone was fiercely loyal. “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,” Aaron Gordon added. “I think it’ll be a change of pace. I think he’s gonna be a great coach for that program.”

Jokic, who played his amateur hoops in Serbia, isn’t as familiar with the specifics and idiosyncrasies of NCAA basketball as most of his teammates. He’s occasionally roped in when he falls in love with a skilled big man like North Carolina State’s DJ Burns two years ago.

But in general, he’ll likely be rooting on Malone from afar. As the sport’s preeminent offensive player, he can’t find it within himself to stay focused for all 30 seconds of the shot clock.

“I just don’t understand why the rules are different,” he said. “It’s so slow, and they just go around and ’round and ’round. But it’s still basketball. It’s a little bit different. … I just don’t understand the 30 seconds. It’s just too much.”

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