Former NBA forward Jared Dudley has agreed to a contract with the Nuggets that will make him the top assistant coach on David Adelman‘s staff, agent Andy Miller tells ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link).
Marc Stein of The Stein Line first reported that Dudley was drawing interest from Memphis, Cleveland and Denver, and also reported over the weekend that the Nuggets were granted permission to Dudley.
A 14-year veteran as a player who won a title with the Lakers in 2020, Dudley has been an assistant with the Mavericks for the past four seasons, including acting in a front-of-bench role in 2024/25.
As Stein notes (via Twitter), all three of Dallas’ top assistants from last season have found new jobs in recent months, with Sean Sweeney joining the division-rival Spurs as associate head coach, Alex Jensen becoming the head coach at the University of Utah, and Dudley heading to Denver. Player development assistant God Shammgod, who has been with the Mavs since 2019, was also hired away by the Magic.
The Mavericks replaced Sweeney with new associate head coach Frank Vogel, a longtime former head coach, while ex-Raptors and Suns coach Jay Triano is the new No. 2 assistant. Stein reported that Dallas is eyeing veteran assistants Phil Handy and Mike Penberthy to join Jason Kidd‘s staff, though Handy is also drawing interest from New York.
According to Adam Mares of ALLCITY (Twitter link), Dudley is well liked and respected by coaches and players around the NBA, including several of the league’s top stars. The former first-round pick turns 40 years old next week.
Mavs dropped the ball on this one.. Vogel without Dudley and shamgod smells like a recipe for some kyrie despair.
What a great addition for the nugs locker room!
Good days for a spurs/nugs fan such as myself.
What a nice gig for Dudley. He gets to coach a great team with a low maintenance superstar.
By the way, he don’t look like Elmer Fudd anymore.
The biggest stories of this NBA season. Are the Nuggets and Rockets. The Rockets have pulled off biggest trade of season. They added FA vet depth. To an already deep young team . Rockets lost to GS last year. Cause they didn’t have enough scoring. And didn’t have a clutch scorer/closer. Well KD is all that and one of best to ever do it. Then adding more depth is huge news.
Nuggets also loaded up. Got rid of their weak link. And added a real 2way 3. Who is ready to play for a winning team. Cam J has got to be pumped to be a Nugget. Their starting 5 is better today. Then they added much needed vet depth. Nuggets ran out of gas against Thunder last year. This year they are loaded. Definitely see Nuggets and Rockets as biggest threats to Thunder. This should be the biggest story we should all be talking about ……
Until Durant gets hurt and the Rockets get bounced in the first round again.
This guy was always meant for the bench, as a coach and player.