Former Nuggets GM Calvin Booth Discusses Denver Exit
Appearing on The Kevin O’Connor Show with Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports, former Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth spoke at length about his time as the head of Denver’s basketball operations department and the factors that led to him and former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone being let go on the same day last April, with just three games left in the regular season.
While friction between Booth and Malone was the the reason most frequently cited as the reason why Denver made such a significant change with the 2025 postseason around the corner, Booth downplayed that conflict to some extent, suggesting it wasn’t unique to the Nuggets and was just one of several factors why he lost his job.
In Booth’s view, another one of those factors that led to his exit is that the Nuggets’ ownership group doesn’t value its front office executives as highly as other teams do.
“Whether it’s Mark Warkentien or Tim (Connelly) or Masai (Ujiri), there’s always gonna come a point where they don’t value executives like that,” he told O’Connor. “I’ll probably disagree with their take on executives, but who am I? They’ve been so successful, so maybe it’s the right way to operate.”
Booth also suggested that he might have made the general manager job “look too easy,” as O’Connor relays.
“Anybody that’s really good at something, when they make it look easy, that was really, really hard to get to,” Booth explained. “(It took) a lifetime’s worth of playing basketball, coaching basketball, having conversations, scouting. For me to go in there right away, assemble a championship team, win a championship.”
While those remarks may open up Booth to criticism, it’s worth noting that his track record in the GM role was pretty strong. After Connelly built the core of the roster, Booth added several valuable complementary pieces in his first offseason on the job in 2022, trading for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, signing Bruce Brown, and drafting Christian Braun and Peyton Watson outside the top 20. The moves helped Denver win its first NBA championship in 2023.
The Nuggets lost several of their veteran role players in subsequent summers, with Brown and Jeff Green departing in free agency in 2023 and Caldwell-Pope doing the same in 2024. Denver’s front office took some flak for not doing more to re-sign those key contributors, but Booth argues that doing so would’ve impeded the progress of some of the team’s most promising prospects.
“The reality of the thing is if we sign Bruce Brown back, we sign KCP back, or if they leave and we sign veterans … do Christian Braun and Peyton Watson do what they’re doing right now?” Booth said. “Definitely not.”
Despite limited draft resources, Booth continued to bring in young players – including Julian Strawther, Jalen Pickett, Hunter Tyson, Collin Gillespie, DaRon Holmes, and Spencer Jones – and his desire to develop those youngsters clashed with Malone’s preference to lean on win-now veterans, which was a primary source of the tension between the two men.
Still, Nuggets ownership’s aversion to operating deep in the tax meant that Booth had to try to find cheap talent to fill out the roster, and while not every one of his draft picks and UDFA signings was a success, many of those players have since developed into solid NBA rotation pieces in Denver or elsewhere.
“In most situations when somebody’s running a team, I don’t think the expectation is to bat 1.000,” Booth said. “For some reason, I started to get the feeling that that was the expectation for me from whoever was in and around the Denver Nuggets community.”
Here are a few more of Booth’s most notable comments from his appearance on O’Connor’s podcast, which is worth checking out in full for Nuggets fans:
On why his “idealism” might’ve clashed with Malone’s “realism” due to the nature of their respective roles:
“I have to take accountability whatever way that narrative grew legs and my part in it, I’ve learned from that. There’s such a weird paradox with NBA coaches. They’re in the midst of the lion’s den. They’re dealing with players, some of the most formidable size-wise and ego-wise in the world, and they’re managing them. Those guys buy in. And then these coaches have to report to a general manager who maybe doesn’t have the gravitas they do. I just think it’s a human nature thing.”
On the job that Ben Tenzer and Jon Wallace have done running the Nuggets’ front office since last spring:
“They’re great. A lot of (the roster moves they made) we talked about when I was there. We thought we were gonna get (Jonas) Valanciunas at the trade deadline. Obviously, they did their own unique things, but the one thing about the new CBA, there’s only so many trades that can be done. It’s kind of like paint-by-numbers, in that sense. So anybody sitting in that seat in Denver is going to have some kind of Michael Porter Jr. for Cam Johnson concept, because that’s just one of the better deals that was out there.”
On whether he’d like another chance to be an NBA general manager:
“Nobody’s entitled or owed an opportunity to run an NBA team. There’s 30 jobs. All those guys in their own way deserve to be in that seat. I’d be foolish to say that for the right scenario I wouldn’t be willing to work for somebody.
“My door wasn’t knocking down with people waiting to hire me. That’s where this whole thing got blown out of proportion. If you look tangibly at what I did — my win percentage, what I drafted, working with a coach like Coach Malone as a first-time GM — I just don’t know how my door isn’t knocking. … You could put 100 GMs in my position. I don’t know what, three or four of them do as good as I did.”
On whether he thinks Malone wants to find another NBA head coaching job:
“He doesn’t mind commentating games. But he would probably die to coach an NBA team tomorrow. And he deserves it. He’s a championship coach.”
Nuggets Notes: Jokic, Kroenke, Newcomers, Akinjo
Nuggets vice chairman and president Josh Kroenke was sitting courtside on Wednesday for Serbia’s first game of EuroBasket 2025 against Estonia, per Edvinas Jablonskis of BasketNews.com. Kroenke is the latest Nuggets executive to visit Nikola Jokic in Riga, Latvia this week, joining vice president of basketball operations Ben Tenzer and executive VP of player personnel Jon Wallace (story via BasketNews.com).
The three-time MVP treated the Nuggets’ contingent to a show, leading the way as Serbia rolled to a 98-64 blowout victory over the Estonians.
Jokic scored just 11 points, but was a +39 in 23 minutes of action and also contributed 10 rebounds and seven assists. He and the Serbians will be back in action on Friday when they face Portugal in the second matchup of the group-play stage of EuroBasket.
Here’s more on the Nuggets:
- John Schuhmann of NBA.com expects Cameron Johnson and Bruce Brown to be defensive upgrades on Michael Porter Jr. and Russell Westbrook for the Nuggets and takes a closer look at some film to explore what sort of impact the newcomers could have. As Schuhmann notes, Denver ranked just 21st in defensive rating last season after placing eighth in 2023/24.
- The Nuggets’ G League affiliate, the Grand Rapids Gold, completed a trade with the Wisconsin Herd, acquiring James Akinjo‘s returning rights in exchange for the rights to Will Richardson and a 2026 first-round pick (Twitter link). The deal suggests that Akinjo, a former Baylor point guard who has played in the G League since going undrafted in 2022, is a good candidate to sign an Exhibit 10 contract with Denver at some point before the season begins.
- In case you missed it, we published our list of 2026 free agents by team on Tuesday. The Nuggets have nine players – six on the standard roster and three two-ways – who could reach free agency next summer.
Nuggets Notes: Kroenke, Jokic, Tenzer, Wallace, Holmes
Nuggets vice chairman Josh Kroenke said that Nikola Jokic will receive a contract extension offer this offseason, The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando tweets, though the superstar center could receive an even bigger deal by waiting another year.
“We’re definitely gonna offer it,” Kroenke said during a Tuesday press conference. “I’m not sure if he’s gonna accept it or not because we’re also gonna explain every financial parameter around him, signing now versus signing later.”
Jokic’s contract runs through 2026/27, with a player option for ’27/28. Jokic will become extension-eligible on July 8 and could sign for approximately $212MM at that time on a three-year extension that replaces his option — or he could wait until July 2026 and sign for four years and $293MM.
Here’s more from Kroenke’s presser, via Durando:
- Kroenke made an ominous, perhaps inadvertent statement, regarding the Collective Bargaining Agreement and its implications. While discussing the second tax apron, Kroenke brought up a doomsday scenario in which Jokic could be traded. “There are rules around it that we needed to be very careful of with our injury history,” he said (Twitter link). “Wrong person gets injured, and very quickly you’re into a scenario that I never want to have to contemplate, and that’s trading No. 15 (Jokic).”
- Regarding front office responsibilities, Kroenke indicated that Ben Tenzer, the new executive vice president of basketball operations, and former Timberwolves executive Jon Wallace, who was named executive vice president of player personnel, will share duties involving trades, free agents signings and contract negotiations. Kroenke will take a more hands-on role in the short run as the duo settles into their positions, then ease back and just check in with them every few days or on a weekly basis. (Twitter links)
- According to Vinny Benedetto of the Denver Gazette (Twitter link), Tenzer said that forward/center DaRon Holmes II would participate in Summer League play. Holmes tore his Achilles in his Summer League debut last July after the Nuggets traded up to snag him with the No. 22 pick.
Ben Tenzer To Become Nuggets’ EVP Of Basketball Operations
The Nuggets will name Ben Tenzer executive vice president of basketball operations and add Timberwolves executive Jon Wallace to their front office as executive vice president of player personnel, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link). They will both report to vice chairman Josh Kroenke, Charania adds.
Tenzer has been serving as interim general manager since the team made the surprising decision to fire former GM Calvin Booth and head coach Michael Malone in the final week of the regular season. Tenzer joined the organization in 2012 and was promoted to vice president of basketball operations in 2023.
Wallace formerly worked for the Nuggets, joining the team in 2019 as a basketball operations associate and working his way up to scouting coordinator. He left for Minnesota in 2022 to become director of player personnel and general manager of the team’s G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves. Wallace played college basketball at Georgetown and spent three years as an assistant on Patrick Ewing‘s staff with the Hoyas.
The Nuggets’ restructuring of their front office is now complete with the draft looming on Wednesday and Thursday, and free agency set to start next Monday.
Northwest Notes: Blazers, Nuggets, Randle, Reid, Wolves
The Trail Blazers have a lot of decisions to make this summer, writes Sean Highkin for Rose Garden Report (Substack link). The ostensibly still-rebuilding team has 10 players who will either be extension-eligible or on an expiring contract for the coming season.
The amount of talent on the roster makes predicting extensions more complicated, with Anfernee Simons being a prime example. A young veteran who’s only 26 years old, Simons has reached a more consistent level as a scorer than Scoot Henderson or extension-eligible Shaedon Sharpe, making moving him less of a priority than fans around the league might think.
Deandre Ayton is another interesting case, as his presence prevents Donovan Clingan from starting, but his on-court production may be worth more to the Blazers than what he would return in a trade.
Sharpe and Toumani Camara are perhaps Portland’s most interesting extension candidates. Sharpe has the skill set to be an offensive star, but inconsistency, injuries, and a lack of attention to detail have kept his game inconsistent thus far, which could make it hard for him and the Blazers to find a middle ground number.
Camara, fresh off being named to the All-Defensive second team, could lock in a four-year extension worth up to $90MM, but as a former second-round pick with a valuable skill set, it might be worth betting on himself in the hopes of receiving a bigger payday next summer.
We have more news from the Northwest division:
- The NBA draft is five days away and free agency is hot on its heels. Given their need to make smart, cost-controlled roster moves on the margin, it’s problematic that the Nuggets still don’t have a permanent general manager, argues Sean Keeler of the Denver Post. The team currently has Ben Tenzer as its interim GM, but with the draft and free agency around the corner, there’s a need for organizational clarity — and for other teams to know who they’re dealing with if they come calling for trades. Former Nuggets president Pete Babcock spoke to Keeler on the subject. “The standard operating procedure is (to) have someone in place,” Babcock said. “If their job was to put the puzzle together and build the team, you want them to be in place before the draft, so they’d have a say as to how things are going to come down.”
- It seems unlikely that the Nuggets will move any of their starters this summer, writes Spotrac’s Keith Smith in his offseason preview. The team will largely have to rely on internal development for improvement, though if they do make a move or choose not to bring back one of Russell Westbrook, DeAndre Jordan, or Vlatko Cancar, they could have their $5.7MM taxpayer mid-level exception to add another depth piece. Guerschon Yabusele, Tyus Jones, and Larry Nance Jr. are among the names floated by Smith.
- Timberwolves head coach Chris Finch says he’s expecting both Julius Randle and Naz Reid back with the team next year, says The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski (via Twitter). Both forwards hold player options for 2025/26, which puts the decision at least partially out of the Wolves’ hands, but Minnesota is in win-now mode and would have few mechanisms to replace the contributions of the duo if they were to depart, so retaining them will likely be a high priority.
- The Timberwolves will be looking to revamp their business operations department, as CEO Ethan Casson and COO Ryan Tanke are stepping down amidst the team’s change in ownership, reports Krawczynski (via Twitter).
Nuggets Parting Ways With Assistant GM Tommy Balcetis
The Nuggets won’t be retaining assistant general manager Tommy Balcetis, according to a report from DNVR Sports (Twitter link).
Multiple sources confirmed the news to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post, who notes that Balcetis had been on an expiring contract, which won’t be renewed.
Balcetis has been with the Nuggets since 2013. He was initially hired as the team’s basketball analytics manager and worked his way up the organization from there, earning the title of director of strategy and analytics, then VP of basketball strategy and analytics. In 2020, following Arturas Karnisovas‘ departure from the organization, Calvin Booth was promoted from assistant GM to general manager, with Balcetis promoted into Booth’s old assistant GM role.
Notably, however, it was VP of basketball operations and G League GM Ben Tenzer who was named the Nuggets’ interim general manager in April when the club dismissed Booth, with Balcetis remaining in his assistant GM position at that time.
Although Balcetis has since been mentioned as a potential candidate to become the Nuggets’ permanent head of basketball operations, the fact that the club initially chose Tenzer over him perhaps signaled that this split was coming.
With little indication that the Nuggets have been seriously considering options outside of the organization, Tenzer now looks like the clear favorite to run the team’s basketball operations department going forward, though it’s possible Denver has just done an excellent job keeping a more expansive front office search under wraps. As for Balcetis, I wouldn’t expect it to take long for him to find work with another NBA team.
Western Notes: Spurs, Williamson, Nuggets, Wolves, Clippers
The Spurs are expected to hire Corliss Williamson to be an assistant coach on Mitch Johnson‘s new staff in San Antonio, league sources tell Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Twitter link).
A former star at Arkansas and a Sixth Man of the Year in the NBA, Williamson appeared in over 800 regular season games for four NBA teams from 1995-2007 and won championships at both the NCAA and NBA level. He transitioned into coaching in 2007 after retiring as a player, spending a few years with college programs in his home state of Arkansas before making the leap to the NBA.
Williamson, who has spent the past two years as a member of Chris Finch‘s coaching staff with the Timberwolves, has also had stints as an assistant in Sacramento, Orlando, and Phoenix.
Here are a few more items of interest from around the Western Conference:
- Checking in on where things stand with the Nuggets‘ front office search, Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscription required) says the club’s goal is to resolve the situation before the June 25 draft, even though Denver doesn’t control a 2025 pick. Given how little chatter there has been about outside candidates for the job, in-house executives Ben Tenzer (the current interim general manager) and Tommy Balcetis still look like the best bets for the full-time position, Durando writes, though he acknowledges it’s possible the team has just done a very good job of keeping other targets under wraps.
- While the Timberwolves will almost certainly be a taxpayer again in 2025/26, the big question they’ll have to answer is where they’ll draw the line, Yossi Gozlan writes in previewing the team’s offseason for The Third Apron (Substack link). Gozlan predicts Minnesota will try to get below the second tax apron either this offseason or at least by the end of 2025/26 to avoid having another future first-round pick frozen. He also explores how the team might handle its free agents and wonders if the Wolves could reduce their 2025/26 team salary by having Julius Randle decline his player option in order to sign a multiyear deal with a lower starting salary.
- Keith Smith of Spotrac looks ahead to what’s on tap for the Clippers this offseason, discussing James Harden‘s contract situation, considering what the team might do with its other free agents, and evaluating whether an extension for Norman Powell makes sense, among other topics. We published our own Clippers offseason preview earlier this week.
Nuggets Notes: Porter, GM Candidates, Durant, Repeater Tax
The Nuggets might explore trades involving Michael Porter Jr. this summer, but the most likely scenario has him returning for at least one more season, Bennett Durando of The Denver Post states in a mailbag column. The 26-year-old forward has been the frequent target of trade speculation, but Durando believes he has more value to Denver than he would to any rival team.
Durando notes that team president Josh Kroenke has indicated that he wants to keep the current core together, recently saying, “I think a lot of our answers are internal right now.” That means fans probably shouldn’t expect Porter or any other significant rotation player to be moved this offseason unless the Nuggets receive an offer that’s too good to pass up.
Porter dealt with health concerns early in his career, but he’s been very reliable lately, appearing in 81 and 77 games the past two seasons. He averaged 18.2 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists this year with .504/.395/.768 shooting splits, giving Denver a potent outside shooting threat with plenty of experience playing alongside Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon.
Durando notes that Denver’s cap situation will become more strained in the 2026/27 season when Gordon will receive a $9MM raise and Christian Braun will likely have a new deal in place. Porter will be an expiring contract by then, so Durando sees a trade as more likely to happen next summer.
There’s more from Denver:
- Interim general manager Ben Tenzer appears to be the leading candidate to fill that role on a permanent basis, Durando adds in the same piece. Tenzer has been handling all the GM duties since Calvin Booth was fired, and Kroenke has complimented his performance. Durando views Minnesota general manager Matt Lloyd as the likely alternative if Tenzer isn’t hired.
- In a separate story, Durando expresses skepticism that the Nuggets can land Kevin Durant, but he lists a few potential trades just in case the Suns star decides he wants to team up with Jokic. One of Durando’s ideas involves Jamal Murray, another includes a combination of Porter and Braun, and a third features a combination of Gordon and Porter. All three options would require a third team because neither Denver or Phoenix can take back more salary than it sends out in a trade.
- The Nuggets will become subject to the repeater tax next season, more than doubling their current tax bill to a projected $42.9MM, cap expert Yossi Gozlan observes in his Third Apron Substack column (subscription required). Gozlan also notes that the team has limited draft assets to offer in trades, making it harder to get rid of unwanted contracts. Denver owns five of its first-round picks over the next seven years, but is only able to trade one in either 2031 or 2032. The only second-round pick the club has available to trade is in 2032.
Nuggets’ David Adelman Plans Style Changes Next Season
David Adelman talked about changes in philosophy and style of play at an introductory news conference Wednesday to officially make him the Nuggets‘ permanent head coach, writes Pat Graham of The Associated Press.
Adelman held the job on an interim basis after taking over when Michael Malone was fired on April 8 with three games left in the regular season. Adelman led the team to a first-round victory over the Clippers before dropping a seven-game series to the Thunder in the second round.
Players responded positively to the increased input they were able to provide under Adelman, along with the lifting of tensions that occurred with the dismissal of Malone and general manager Calvin Booth.
Looking ahead to next season, Adelman said he wants the team to get in “better shape” and he’s planning to expand the rotation beyond what Malone normally utilized. He’s looking at a slower style of play to maximize the skills of star center Nikola Jokic.
“We have to get back to being an execution-based team,” Adelman said. “If that takes away some of our pace numbers, or whatever the analytics want to say, I think that’s OK if it wins you a game in May, as opposed to playing a game in December. The majority of the time, if you want to win big, you’ve got to play slow. You’ve got to be efficient. You’ve got to be clean. So that will be things we’ll talk about throughout the summer, going to training camp.”
Graham points out that it won’t be easy to add talent to the roster because the Nuggets don’t own any picks in next month’s draft. Any significant trade would likely have to break up the current starting five, so the best avenue toward improvement will be progress from young players Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, Jalen Pickett and DaRon Holmes, who missed his entire rookie season after suffering an Achilles tear in a Summer League game.
There’s more from Denver:
- Between the reduced pace and Adelman’s desire for “a premium on shot-making,” Russell Westbrook shouldn’t be part of the team next season, contends Troy Renck of The Denver Post. Westbrook holds a $3.47MM player option, and Renck says the best outcome would be for him to decline it and join a team like Brooklyn that’s looking for a big name. Renck suggests using the taxpayer mid-level exception to sign free agent Tyus Jones, who would provide a steadier option as backup point guard.
- Team president Josh Kroenke wants a better relationship between his coach and GM this time, so Adelman will have at least a small role in filling that position, according to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. “DA will come into that process at some point. … But I think the input will be relatively minimal, because what I’ll be looking for is cohesion between those two (roles),” Kroenke said. “And I think that once we decide on that, I think I’ll have a lot of comfort on how they work together.” Kroenke added that he has “no news on that front” when asked about hiring an outside firm to identify potential GM candidates. He also praised interim GM Ben Tenzer for the way he’s handled the role since Booth was fired.
- Adelman needs to send a strong message to Jamal Murray about coming to camp in shape and being at his best when the season starts, states Sean Keeler of The Denver Post. Murray’s four-year, $207.8MM extension will take effect next season.
Nuggets Face Important General Manager Decision
After firing Calvin Booth a week before the end of the 2024/25 season, the Nuggets are heading into an important offseason without a general manager. Whoever steps in to fill that role will be tasked with building out a roster around star Nikola Jokic, despite not currently owning a pick in the 2025 draft and facing a financial situation that could force changes to the starting lineup.
Based on vice chairman Josh Kroenke‘s track record, interim GM Ben Tenzer should be considered to hold pole position in the search, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. Tenzer has served as the GM of the Grand Rapids Gold, Denver’s G League affiliate squad, for the past two years and has been with the organization since 2005.
Durando writes that current assistant GM Tommy Balcetis could also be a candidate if the team hires from within, though Kroenke has publicly stated there’s no guarantee that’s the direction he will take.
“I would be naive if I didn’t think about soliciting opinions outside these walls, whether that’s from some of my own basketball contacts, or hiring a firm that perhaps might be able to give me a list of some of the brightest upcoming minds in the league,” Kroenke said, per Durando.
Minnesota’s GM Matt Lloyd has been one name circulated in recent weeks, Durando reports. The Timberwolves have seen success while being aggressive on the trade market, including trading into the lottery last summer to select point guard Rob Dillingham. With the Nuggets experiencing a talent drain over the past few seasons, a willingness to take big swings could be viewed as a positive attribute by the team’s top decision-makers.
In addition to candidates currently employed by other teams, such as the Heat’s Andy Elisburg and Trent Redden of the Clippers, Durando notes that there are several high-profile names who might be available.
Bob Myers has been working as an ESPN analyst since leaving his position with the Warriors two years ago, and it’s worth wondering if he would be open to returning to basketball operations. It has been previously reported that league-wide belief is that it would take a “significant” offer and the perfect fit to lure him out of retirement.
David Griffin, Landry Fields, and Monte McNair were let go by the Pelicans, Hawks, and Kings, respectively, last month. Griffin struggled to put together a winning team against the backdrop of New Orleans’ constant stream of injuries, but showed himself to be a high-level drafter. Fields wasn’t able to get the Hawks out of the rut of roughly .500 ball they’ve been in for the past five seasons, but he did manage to put a coherent team vision around Trae Young, with a legion of lengthy, defensive-minded wings who can shoot threes and switch on defense.
Perhaps the most intriguing name floated by Durando is a familiar one to Denver: Tim Connelly. The former Nuggets president of basketball operations left Denver to build the back-to-back conference finalist Wolves, but he has an opt-out in his contract this summer. The expectation is that he will work out a deal with new ownership.
Even if Connelly is available, a reunion seems unlikely, Durando notes, given the Nuggets’ hesitancy to come close to Minnesota’s contract offer last time around. It would presumably take an even more lucrative bid this time to bring him back to Denver.