DENVER — Woody Paige, a longtime Denver sports columnist and panelist on ESPN’s “Around the Horn” debate show, told Denver7 of “infighting” within the Nuggets organization and a “frustrated” star in Nikola Jokic before the team’s bombshell axing of its head coach on Tuesday.
Paige said his sources told him Stan and Josh Kroenke, who own the Nuggets, likely ran the decision by Jokic before pulling the trigger.
“It’s my understanding from those that I talk to and trust that Stan Kroenke and Josh Kroenke didn’t make this decision without going to the greatest player in the entire world, and that would be The Joker, Jokic,” Paige said. “I think that Jokic was frustrated by the players that he is surrounded with, by what’s happened to this team – particularly defensively.”
Jokic likely gave his blessing as a "last-gasp effort" to make something of a 2024-25 season that saw the Serbian star average a triple-double in his best season ever, Paige said.
Ahead of Tuesday's games, the Nuggets ranked 20th in the NBA in defensive rating and 25th in scoring defense, after finishing last season 7th and 2nd in those categories, respectively. Malone himself had aired frustration with the defensive decline in the days before his firing.
“That's a severe drop off and you just can't rely upon your offense to outscore teams,” Malone said after an April 6 loss to the Indiana Pacers, which would be his final game as the Nuggets’ head coach.
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Nuggets General Manager Calvin Booth – a fellow architect of the 2023 championship team who had been with the organization since 2017 and GM since 2020 – was also let go Tuesday.
The move surprised Paige, who thought one Malone or Booth would survive when the other was fired after the season’s end.
“There’s been infighting between Calvin Booth and Michael Malone because Calvin Booth didn’t go out and get the Nuggets a player [at the trade deadline],” Paige said.
In all, the move is a striking indictment on the confidence of the Nuggets’ brass in a team that’s lost four in a row and seven of 10 as it hobbles toward the postseason.
By Paige's estimate, Denver doesn't stack up well in a loaded Western Conference as the season comes to a close. He said they don't have what it takes to beat the likes of the Los Angeles Lakers or Golden State Warriors, who added elite players at the deadline.
“In my 50 years of being in Colorado, I’ve never quite seen anything that even comes close to what we’re seeing,” said Paige, who has appeared on “Around the Horn” from an office inside the Denver7 studios for years. “They’ve gone from being one of the top three teams in the Western Conference to being one of the teams that might not even get to the playoffs if they were to lose the rest of the games.”
“This season is winding down as poorly as it could possibly happen,” he added.
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Denver Nuggets 2024-25 Schedule
- April 9: @ Sacramento Kings
- April 11: vs. Memphis Grizzlies
- April 13: @ Houston Rockets