The Denver Nuggets have excelled under David Adelman. Yet, it’s still a blur as to why they moved on from former coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth with the three regular-season games remaining. There was notably a “cold war” between the two. However, Booth feels that’s been overblown. He pointed to four reasons, one of which came as a warning for Nikola Jokic.

For one, Booth didn’t feel the Kroenke family valued the services of executives. His job was further put at risk due to the “gift and curse of Jokic”. The former NBA player feels the Nuggets grew overly comfortable with having the most influential player in the league on their side. What’s been done is create lesser importance of every other role. Booth doesn’t think that ideology ever breeds sustained success.

“When Jokic is in your universe, everybody takes everything else for granted right?… But I actually think it’s the opposite. I look at the Chicago Bulls, the Spurs, the teams that won multiples, like everybody does their job the best. like you could have argued in those sit scenarios that best president, best coach, best star, best role player, best sixth man, they had all that stuff covered, right?” he said on the Kevin O’Connor Show.

Nikola Jokic cleared it recently with Malika Andrews. He cares about winning and achieving success in his basketball career. So far, despite the changes, the Nuggets have been successful. They’re currently the fourth seed in the West, and the three-time MVP is enjoying one of his best campaigns.

But some of Calvin Booth’s footprints still dictate this period. Christian Braun and Payton Watson, two players he drafted, have become crucial pieces for Denver. Furthermore, with Adelman as a coach, there’s a sense of calmness. Jamal Murray made his first All-Star berth, showing clear progress from the 2023 title run.

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Jokic remains under contract till 2027-28, when he will have a player option. Hopefully, the Nuggets don’t have to face dire circumstances as before once again, that stands as proof for Booth’s warning. But he still feels the ownership needs to improve.

Calvin Booth calls out overblown rift with Michael Malone

Team sources around the Nuggets said Malone and Booth couldn’t stand each other. They came with different ideologies. However, Booth never felt it got to a point of no return. “We won a championship. There was definitely alignment,” he told Kevin O’Connor. His belief is that the Kroenke ownership and media manipulation ultimately led to his exit.

Notably, he feels the Nuggets ownership doesn’t value executives highly. “Whether it’s Mark Warkentien or Tim or Masai, there’s always going to come to a point where they don’t value executives like that they don’t think they should make too much and so they just make an option to go in another direction,” the former Nuggets GM added.

Josh Kroenke even said neither of them deserved to be fired. But his hands were tied since he sensed uneasiness when thinking about the future. He wanted a refreshing change. But were things that bad where Nikola Jokic and the team felt demoralised? Booth never thought so, saying that was fueled by reports.

“I would probably disagree with their take upon executives, especially in this world, but like, who am I? They’ve been so successful, right? Like so, maybe it’s the right way to operate. But I’ll say that you encompass all that in some media manipulation and then all of a sudden like somehow someway, I’m not running an NBA team right now,” he said.

If it’s true, the Nuggets’ ownership did so to push for their exits. Notably, Josh Kroenke revealed he thought about taking that action on Thanksgiving. Booth still left on a good note. Understanding the ownership’s expertise in winning across multiple sports, he’s confident in the current front office presence of Jonathan Wallace and Ben Tenzer.

The front office made some sublime trades, like bringing Bruce Brown back. That has strengthened the Nuggets on both sides of the floor. Hopefully, the worst doesn’t happen because the team looks lethal and positioned for a formidable postseason run.