DENVER — Don’t expect to see much of Denver Nuggets head coach Michael Malone’s NBA championship ring after players and coaches receive them Tuesday night at Ball Arena.
“I'm sure that it'll be something that I'll never wear because I don’t wear any jewelry,” Malone told reporters in a perfunctory media appearance Monday. “Those things are so big and gaudy. I don’t think it looks good on a guy like me.”
He added that he “has no idea what [the ring] looks like.”
(If you’re not sure, either, here’s a peek).
Aesthetics aside, though, Malone’s bling could be hard to come by because of the spot where he plans to keep it. And no, we’re not talking about a high-security vault at an undisclosed location.
Call it a family tradition.
“My father [the late Brendan Malone], he's got two world championship rings from the bad boys in Detroit,” Malone said. “They always thought those rings were in a safety deposit box. And my mother put them in his underwear drawer.”
“So that's probably where mine will be as well.”
The pledge was part of Malone’s downplaying of ring night in Denver, as the first-time champs turn their attention toward defending their title. While the championship banner will rise to the Ball Arena rafters and the team will get its jewelry, they kick off the season against the Los Angeles Lakers team they ousted from the 2023 playoffs in dominant fashion.
“Yes, we're going to raise a banner, we're going to receive rings. That's for last season,” Malone said. “But [Tuesday’s] game starts this season. And I want our guys to kind of wrap their heads around that and focus on that because that's the number one thing.”
Denver7 Sports
