Who could be next Nuggets head coach? 10 possible candidates to replace Michael Malone.

Once again, Nikola Jokic has proved a savant, reading the tea leaves long before a situation hardly anyone across the NBA truly saw coming came to fruition on Tuesday.

Two years ago, amid an otherwise-meaningless January night, Denver assistant David Adelman assumed the reins for a sidelined Michael Malone in captaining the Nuggets to a win over Portland. And afterward, Jokic sung Adelman’s praises to the heavens — about as glowingly as the center ever has of anyone.

“I really think that DA’s a guy,” Jokic said then, “who’s gonna be (a) next head coach.”

Adelman’s name has floated around NBA coaching ranks for years, the son of former longtime NBA coach Rick Adelman.

Few, though, could’ve ever expected it to happen like this, as the Nuggets have fired Malone in a move tied for the latest coaching change in NBA history with just three games remaining in their regular season, according to ESPN. Adelman has been named the interim HC in Malone’s stead, attempting to prop up infrastructure blown up by dynamite Tuesday.

As Denver looks beyond 2024-25, though, ownership will face major organizational questions about maximizing Jokic’s future in a Nuggets jersey. With that in mind, here’s 10 possible candidates the franchise could consider to fill Malone’s shoes.

David Adelman

The most obvious candidate, and perhaps the best. Adelman has Jokic’s blessing on the record and has served in the wings in the Nuggets’ organization since being hired from Orlando’s staff in 2017. He’s got tenure, familiarity and the locker room’s public backing. But Adelman also has zero head-coaching experience at the collegiate or NBA levels (he did helm powerhouse Lincoln High in Portland for five years), and the Nuggets have no margin for error.

Frank Vogel

Know who Adelman was coaching with in Orlando? Vogel. It’s probable Adelman stays on staff in Denver in any event, and the coaching-tree tie is a point in favor here. Importantly, too, Vogel has championship pedigree, after leading the Lakers to a title in the 2019-20 season. His tenure since hasn’t been pretty, canned in Los Angeles two years after that title and fired after coaching Phoenix in 2023-24. But Vogel could bring a strong defensive focus — the Nuggets’ Achilles heel throughout 2024-25.

Mike Budenholzer

Let’s just assume, for a second, that the Suns jettison Budenholzer after a disastrous 2024-25 season that’ll likely see them missing the play-in tournament. A likely outcome give that star Kevin Durant and Budenholzer haven’t seen eye-to-eye this year. In that sense, Budenholzer’s stock isn’t booming. But he’s coming off a title with Milwaukee just three years ago, and his reputation as an offensive savant is as cemented as any in the league.

Jordi Fernandez

Fernandez is also still active as an NBA head coach, currently in Brooklyn. But the Denver ties are obvious — spending six years on Malone’s staff from 2016-17 to 2021-22 — and surely he still has ties within the Nuggets’ building. The Nets have actually been plucky beyond a 25-53 record this year and have young talent, so it’s less likely Fernandez will be fired. Still, if they move in a different direction, the Nuggets could look here.

Taylor Jenkins

Exactly a week and a half ago, Malone called Memphis’ late-season firing of Jenkins “shocking and odd,” considering the Grizzlies then stood fifth in the Western Conference. The Nuggets, in a cruel twist of fate, have now somehow one-upped Memphis.

Going from one late-season firing to another might not seem ideal, and Jenkins and Malone do have the same agent, as Malone told media before a win over the Jazz on March 28. The 40-year-old Jenkins is a younger mind who molded a young Memphis team into a Western Conference contender, and could be a solid hire for any team looking to develop younger talent. Unclear, though, how Denver might fit into that, beyond Peyton Watson and Christian Braun.

Sam Cassell

Somehow, Cassell has never had an NBA head-coaching gig, despite a former All-Star career as a heady guard and over 15 years of assistant-coaching experience in the league. His time is coming, though, after an NBA title on Joe Mazzulla’s staff with the Boston Celtics in 2023-24. The 55-year-old would likely be a widely-respected pick.

Mike D’Antoni

How about Seven Seconds or Less in Denver? This is a flier, as D’Antoni hasn’t served as an NBA head coach since his final year with the Houston Rockets in 2019-20. His style, too, is more predicated on guard initiation than a center like Nikola Jokic. But the offensive potential here is off the charts, if the 73-year-old D’Antoni wants a return to full-time coaching — or return to a franchise that once fired him back in 1999.

Quin Snyder

This is unlikely. Snyder is in the second year of a five-year deal with the Atlanta Hawks, and despite two middling seasons in Atlanta, the Hawks have a young core who Snyder is developing. That said, if Atlanta did go AWOL and fire him, he’d be one of the best options on the market — a veteran who build a small-market contender for close to a decade with the Utah Jazz. He also happened to coach Josh Kroenke at Mizzou.

Becky Hammon

It’s only a matter of time before Hammon, a former longtime assistant with the Spurs under Gregg Popovich, becomes an NBA head coach. Maybe that time is in Denver. Now leading a powerhouse with the WNBA’s Las Vegas Aces, Hammon could have plenty of interest in the Nuggets job, as she’s in Colorado State’s Athletics Hall of Fame.

Brad Stevens

Nuggets fans might want this to happen, but consider it highly improbable. Stevens is entrenched in Boston.

Want more Nuggets news? Sign up for the Nuggets Insider to get all our NBA analysis.