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Nuggets Notes: Adelman, Kroenke, Braun, Jokic

April 17th, 2025 at 10:58pm CST by Earnest Marshall

Nuggets interim coach David Adelman is trying to drown out the noise with the playoffs approaching, Bennett Durando of The Denver Post writes. He’s not thinking of the playoffs as an audition for a full-time role.

“You’re going to think I’m lying, but I haven’t thought about that,” Adelman said. “This thing has happened so fast, and my No. 1 concern was getting this team, this group of people [into] the playoffs.”

Denver was able to stay afloat after firing Michael Malone late into the season — the team managed to hang onto a top-four seed when it was at risk of dropping to the play-in.

“I see this as: This franchise, this organization already has given me a chance right here,” Adelman said. “I owe them that.”

We have more from the Nuggets:

  • Vice chairman Josh Kroenke said he considered making the coaching and general manager changes around Thanksgiving, as opposed to this late in the year, per ESPN. However, he allowed the team some time to come together after an up-and-down start before ultimately reaching the same conclusion. Kroenke, who vowed to continue instilling energy into this iteration of the Nuggets, also made an interesting comment about the team’s approach to the trade market: “I’m not going to be green-lighting any trades around here when I don’t see complete organizational cohesion and we’re not maximizing the group we got.”
  • Christian Braun enjoyed a career year for the Nuggets and attributes much of his success to the help and pointers Nikola Jokic has given him over the years. “It’s all credit to Nikola,” Braun said. “He’ll grab you during the game, and he’ll tell you, ‘I want you here because they’re gonna do this.’ He’ll know three steps ahead. The credit doesn’t go to me.” Jokic has a history of elevating his teammates, The Athletic’s Fred Katz writes, with former Denver guard Bruce Brown and former Serbian national teammate Bogdan Bogdanovic among those who spoke to Katz about the three-time MVP’s impact.
  • The clock is ticking on the Nuggets to get an extension done with Jokic, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report writes. Jokic’s contract runs through 2026/27, with a player option for ’27/28. Jokic will become extension-eligible on July 8 and could add upward of $149.4MM in new money on an extension over three years at that time — or he could wait until July 2026 and add $230.6MM in new money across four years. Pincus explores all possibilities and angles of an extension and digs into what it would mean for Denver if the star center doesn’t agree to a deal.
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And-Ones: Clutch Player Award, NBA Europe, Award Picks, Oweh

April 15th, 2025 at 6:55pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The official candidates for Clutch Player of the Year have been revealed, NBA analyst Kevin O’Connor tweets. Here’s the list of candidates that voters can select for the award, as chosen by the league’s 30 head coaches:

Curry won the award last year.

We have more from around the international basketball world:

  • While the NBA is trying to establish a new league in Europe, NBA deputy commissioner Mark Tatum insists that the goal is not to replace the EuroLeague, Eurohoops relays via a Reuters interview. “Our goal is to create a commercially viable league that features high quality on -court competition and respects the rich tradition of European basketball. And we think that that will better serve fans and players on the continent,” Tatum said. He notes that there are major cities in Europe that don’t have a team where the NBA can establish roots. “There are big markets in Europe that aren’t being serviced today, where there are millions of basketball fans that aren’t being serviced,” he said. London, Paris, Berlin and Rome are among the candidates that NBA Europe considers as prime targets.
  • The Athletic’s John Hollinger reveals his award picks. He has Gilgeous-Alexander atop his MVP list and the Rockets’ Amen Thompson as his Defensive Player of the Year. O’Connor, writing for Yahoo Sports, has the same duo winning those awards. They also both have Stephon Castle taking Rookie of the Year honors, Payton Pritchard atop their Sixth Man of the Year lists, and Kenny Atkinson as Coach of the Year.
  • Kentucky junior guard Otega Oweh will test the draft waters, Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 tweets. Oweh averaged 16.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.6 steals this past season. He played his first two seasons at Oklahoma.
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Inside The Nuggets’ Firing Of Michael Malone, Calvin Booth

April 12th, 2025 at 6:25pm CST by Arthur Hill

Former Nuggets head coach Michael Malone had lost the support of virtually the entire locker room by the time he and general manager Calvin Booth were fired earlier this week, Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (subscription required) reports within an investigation of what went wrong in Denver.

Malone was a strong-willed coach whose emotions varied greatly depending on whether the team won or lost, sources tell Fischer. Many players found that experience grating and began to tune him out.

“I can’t say any player was vouching for him,” one source told Fischer, while another said “this thing is broken” after a loss to Indiana last week.

As several other reports have indicated, Malone and Booth had a strained relationship and rarely communicated other than to discuss matters involving the team. Booth turned down a contract extension prior to the season, believing it was below his market value, and it was widely believed that Malone’s time in Denver would have ended this offseason if Booth had accepted the offer and remained GM.

Much of their conflict stemmed from Malone’s preference to rely on experienced veterans at the expense of younger talent, which Fischer notes is a practice that pre-dates Booth’s arrival to the team. Fischer points to Isaiah Hartenstein, one of the most sought-after free agents on last year’s market, as the best example. Hartenstein could have developed into a reliable backup for Nikola Jokic, but Malone only used him in 30 games during the 2020/21 season before he was traded to Cleveland at the deadline.

A similar situation played out last year with Jay Huff, who has blossomed this season in Memphis. Sources tell Fischer that Booth and assistant general manager Tommy Balcetis both implored Malone to play Huff, who was on a two-way contract at the time, but he only got into 20 games and averaged 2.5 minutes per night.

While Christian Braun eventually broke through and has established himself as a reliable starter, Malone was pushing to trade him for a more established player leading up to the 2024 deadline, sources tell Fischer.

Fischer points out that despite their animosity, Malone and Booth were able to produce the most successful seasons in Nuggets history, winning the NBA title in 2023 and matching the franchise record for victories with 57 last year.

Much of the frustration stemmed from Malone’s refusal to give regular minutes to the young players Booth brought in after Bruce Brown, Jeff Green and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope left in free agency. Fischer notes that Booth had a sign-and-trade opportunity with the Mavericks last summer involving Caldwell-Pope, but he didn’t want to strengthen the roster of the defending Western Conference champions.

The Nuggets were quiet at this year’s trade deadline, as Booth said potential deals would have to involve Zeke Nnaji‘s $8.8MM salary and Dario Saric‘s $5.1MM. Fischer hears that Denver expressed interest in several players — including Terance Mann, who was ultimately dealt to Atlanta — but Booth felt the price was too high and many potential trading partners shied away from Saric because he holds a player option for next season.

The front office also considered trade options that would turn Michael Porter Jr.‘s $36MM salary into multiple players on lesser deals, according to Fischer. He adds that it never got past the conceptual stage, noting that the Kroenkes are fond of Porter because he’s a Missouri alum just like they are, and they’re considered unlikely to trade him away.

Nuggets players are more supportive of interim coach David Adelman, and Fischer hears that he’ll get a chance to keep the job on a permanent basis. Fischer notes that Booth wasn’t immediately replaced, but sources tell him the team will conduct a search for a new head of basketball operations while keeping most of the current front office together. Fischer mentions Minnesota general manager Matt Lloyd as a name to watch.

The biggest question hanging over the Nuggets as the season winds down is whether Jokic might grow tired of all the chaos and ask for a trade. Fischer states that the three-time MVP has shown no indication of wanting out, but adds that rival teams are sure to be calling with offers this summer.

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Nuggets Notes: Malone, Booth, Jokic

April 12th, 2025 at 8:34am CST by Earnest Marshall

Nuggets coaches and staffers felt compelled to choose sides amid in-season conflicts between Michael Malone and Calvin Booth, according to ESPN’s Tim MacMahon and Ramona Shelburne and previous reports. With the focus shifting away from maximizing Nikola Jokic‘s stellar season, team president Josh Kroenke made the shocking decision to part ways with both head coach and general manager.

“Everybody in the organization was miserable,” a team source said to ESPN. “That’s what Josh felt. It’s a bad vibe. You can’t operate like that. He felt that if he removed those two people, everybody could just focus on doing their job. Change needed to happen.”

Once the team started losing, it made it difficult for the relationships in the organization to remain intact, MacMahon and Shelburne write. As previously relayed, Malone and Booth’s views on the roster were different, with the former preferring to have maintained veterans from the championship-winning team like Bruce Brown and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Booth, meanwhile, planned to develop young players like Jalen Pickett and Christian Braun around Jokic.

“If you’re one of Calvin’s guys, Malone doesn’t want to play you,” a team source said to ESPN.

As for Jokic’s future, he has given no indication he wants to be anywhere other than Denver. Before the season, he expressed a belief in what the Nuggets had. Everything Denver will do moving forward, per ESPN, is centered around Jokic and even a slight hesitation to sign an extension this offseason would be difficult for the organization.

“I think people in general, they always want more and more and more, but they don’t know what they have,” Jokic told ESPN. “I’m really happy we have one title — a lot of very good players don’t win.”

We have more from the Nuggets:

  • The Nuggets offered Booth a contract extension during the 2024 offseason, MacMahon and Shelburne confirm. When he didn’t accept, the two sides played out the season to this point.
  • Malone and Booth seldom engaged with each other outside of meetings with Kroenke, according to The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando. Kroenke ultimately didn’t want to play intermediary or pick a side.
  • On the court, Jokic is putting the finishing touches on an MVP-caliber season. On Friday, he became the third player in league history to officially average a triple-double for an entire season, Arnie Melendrez Stapleton of The Associated Press notes. The only other players to ever do so are Oscar Robertson and Jokic’s teammate Russell Westbrook. Entering the final game of the year, Jokic is averaging 29.8 points, 12.8 rebounds and 10.3 assists per contest. Even if he doesn’t register a single assist, the Nuggets star will finish the season at 10.1 APG.
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Nikola Jokic Discusses Nuggets’ Coaching Change

April 10th, 2025 at 10:54pm CST by Earnest Marshall

The Nuggets made the stunning decision to part with head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth earlier this week. Before the news broke, Denver did indeed inform its superstar Nikola Jokic that Malone, with whom Jokic had spent his entire career with, would not be continuing with the franchise, according to ESPN’s Ohm Youngmisuk.

“I knew a little bit before everybody,” Jokic said. “And (team president and governor Josh Kroenke) told me, ‘We made a decision.’ So it was not a discussion. It was a decision, and he told me why. So I listened and I accept it.”

In the wake of the move, the Nuggets picked up a win over the Kings under interim coach David Adelman. According to The Denver Post’s Bennett Durando, the coaching staff tried to give players more flexibility to be communicative, including Jokic explaining plays and using the whiteboard during the team huddle.

“People say that we are vulnerable, but the beast is always the strongest or the most dangerous when they’re vulnerable,” Jokic said. “Maybe (Kroenke) woke up the beast. I mean, when someone wants to wake somebody up or change the energy, that’s probably what they do. In my country, if somebody gets fired … probably you’re the next (to go). So I think it definitely changed something, and they got the reaction that they wanted, probably.”

Jokic added that the change simply reflected the nature of the NBA and that the Nuggets needed to process the move quickly with the playoffs looming. Still, the three-time MVP developed a close relationship with Malone and made sure to reach out and check on him afterward.

“It was a 10-year relationship,” Jokic said. “So it was just, it was a heavy day for everybody. Especially for him and his family.“

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Latest On Nuggets’ Dismissals Of Calvin Booth, Michael Malone

April 10th, 2025 at 9:45am CST by Dana Gauruder

Team officials and players had grown weary of the disconnect between Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth and head coach Michael Malone. That, plus a desire to audition top assistant David Adelman for the head coaching job, led to the dismissals of both Booth and Malone, The Athletic’s Sam Amick and Tony Jones report.

Booth wanted to fire Malone as the team struggled down the stretch but knew he no longer had the power to make that bold move because of his contract situation. In the last year of his deal after failing to sign extension with ownership, Booth figured he would have to wait until after the playoffs to dismiss Malone, depending upon how the team performed.

Instead, owner Stan Kroenke and team president Josh Kroenke chose to part with both of them. The Kroenkes had made previous efforts to repair the relationship between Booth and Malone to no avail and ultimately decided to get rid of the negativity that was affecting the team. The team’s most important players, including Nikola Jokic, had grown frustrated and weary by Malone’s fiery approach.

Having replaced Malone shortly before the regular season ended, Adelman will have a chance to show whether he should have the interim tag removed after the postseason. Adelman has the support of the team’s regulars due to his steady and calm demeanor.

The ownership group is also aware that Adelman, whose contract is expiring, could have other head coaching opportunities. The Trail Blazers are likely to pursue him if they decide to fire Chauncey Billups, league sources tell Amick and Jones.

Here’s more from The Athletic’s in-depth reporting:

  • It’s expected that the Kroenkes will mull a possible reunion with Tim Connelly, the former Nuggets GM who took over as the Timberwolves’ top exec in May 2022. Connelly has an opt-out in his contract for this summer. However, it’s believed that the Timberwolves’ new owners, Alex Rodriguez and Marc Lore, will try to retain him. If the Nuggets can’t pry away Connelly, they could instead make a run at Minnesota GM Matt Lloyd.
  • Malone had more input on personnel decisions when Connelly ran the show. Once Booth took over, Malone had much less influence and that irked the head coach. Booth had considered firing Malone prior to the team’s 2023 championship run.
  • Booth had extensive discussions with the Kroenkes heading into the season but chose not to sign what he believed was a below-market offer. However, Booth believed that an extension was a mere formality. The Kroenkes pulled their offer when the club got off to a mediocre start.
  • As previously reported, Booth wanted Malone to give more minutes to the younger guys that he drafted, particularly Jalen Pickett and Peyton Watson. After the team was eliminated by Minnesota last season, Booth thought Malone should have expanded the rotation during the regular season to keep the top players fresher, while Malone thought Booth should have given him a more well-rounded roster.
  • Booth’s offseason decisions to give Zeke Nnaji a four-year contract and sign Dario Saric further strained the relationship. Malone hasn’t used either player in the rotation in recent months. Malone’s decision to stick with Russell Westbrook, another offseason pickup, over Pickett also caused considerable friction.
  • Westbrook’s future with the organization, even if he picks up his $3.4MM option, is uncertain. Adelman was quicker to sub out Westbrook for Pickett during the team’s win over the Kings on Wednesday. Jamal Murray is expected to return from his hamstring injury on Friday.
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More Details On Nuggets’ Decision To Fire Malone, Booth

April 9th, 2025 at 3:37pm CST by Rory Maher

While the timing of the Nuggets‘ firings of head coach Michael Malone and Calvin Booth was certainly surprising, team president Josh Kroenke and his father, owner Stan Kroenke, had decided “days earlier” to move on from both when the season ended, according to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. A season-worst four-game losing streak — and the possibility of missing the playoffs for the first time since 2018 — accelerated that timeline.

Malone and Booth continually butted heads over lineup and roster decisions since Denver won its first title in 2023, resulting in a culture in which “coaches don’t trust the front office and front office (employees) don’t trust the coaches,” as one source told Durando.

According to Durando’s sources, part of the impetus behind ownership’s decision to fire the winningest coach in team history was that “multiple key players” began tuning out Malone’s messaging, something he seemed to allude to last month after a loss in Portland.

“They’re not going to go back and watch their minutes, because nobody watches their minutes,” Malone said at the time. “Nobody watches film. So we’ll have to show them the film.”

The bickering between Malone and Booth only got worse over time.

“It wasn’t fun to be around that environment,” another source told The Post. “Everyone was waiting for an endpoint.”

Here’s more on the dismissals of Malone and Booth:

  • Malone was frustrated both privately and publicly about the Nuggets’ defensive regression, but their decline on that end of the court also factored into the organization’s frustration with its coach, according to Durando. After having the eighth-ranked defense last season, Denver has fallen to 20th in 2024/25.
  • Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports also hears the tension between the coach and GM “began to mount” during Denver’s late-season skid, with Booth making lineup suggestions that Malone disagreed with and which he did not take “kindly.” Booth was also critical of Malone’s coaching and usage of Jamal Murray, league sources tell Goodwill. Booth wanted Malone to push Murray more defensively and play him fewer minutes — he’s averaging a career-high 36.3 MPG and is currently sidelined with a hamstring injury which might jeopardize his postseason availability.
  • League sources told Yahoo Sports in January that Malone was likely to resign from his position after the season due to his poor relationship with Booth. Malone was reportedly under contract through 2027, while Booth was on an expiring deal.
  • Harrison Wind and Brendan Vogt of DNVR Sports (subscriber link) discuss why the Nuggets chose to fire Malone and Booth, and why the team made the decision with only three regular season games remaining on its schedule.
  • Durando of The Denver Post lists five candidates to replace Booth as general manager, including assistant GM Tommy Balcetis, who has been with the franchise since 2013.
  • In a similar story for The Post, Luca Evans lists 10 candidates to replace Malone, including interim head coach David Adelman, a longtime assistant. Frank Vogel and Taylor Jenkins are among the other coaches listed.
  • How did opposing head coaches react to Malone’s firing? Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press has the story and quotes.
  • The timing of the decision to fire Malone and Booth was “rude, crude and disrespectful,” according to Mark Kiszla of The Denver Gazette, but he contends it was overdue, since their broken relationship was wasting the prime of Nikola Jokic, who is having one of the best individual seasons in NBA history.
  • Mark Medina of RG.org views the situation differently, arguing that ownership is ultimately “at the heart” of the disconnect between the coaching staff and front office.
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Latest On Firings Of Nuggets Coach Michael Malone, GM Calvin Booth

April 8th, 2025 at 6:44pm CST by Dana Gauruder

The sudden firings of Nuggets head coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth blindsided virtually everyone around the league, according to ESPN’s Brian Windhorst (video link). Windhorst said the moves were driven by the team’s ownership.

“Extremely shocking you would move on from a coach this late in the season no matter the circumstances, especially when he’s the winningest coach in the history of the team and led you to a championship two years ago, even if there were difficulties in the locker room or within the front office,” Windhorst said. “That he would not be allowed to have the playoffs to try to deal with it is very, very surprising.”

Moving on from Booth was much less eye-opening, except for the timing of the move. In fact, it was anticipated that this would be Booth’s last season in the organization.

“This was less surprising to the league, however, because Calvin Booth’s contract is up after this season. They’ve had negotiations throughout the season and it broke down, it wasn’t going well,” Windhorst said.

There was friction between the coach and GM, mainly due to Booth wanting Malone to play his recent draft picks more often, according to Windhorst.

Here’s more on the Nuggets late-season purge:

  • The remainder of the staff held onto their jobs, at least through the rest of the season, The Athletic trio of Tony Jones, Sam Amick and Zach Powell report. David Adelman was named interim head coach. The assistants are all on expiring deals, however, which signals a much different staff could be in place next season.
  • Expanding on the notion Booth was upset about rotation moves, The Athletic noted that Booth wanted Malone to play Jalen Pickett over Russell Westbrook during the stretch run. Booth was also unhappy that Zeke Nnaji, who was signed to a four-year deal, hasn’t gotten much playing time and that another free agent signee, Dario Saric, fell out of favor with Malone before December.
  • The team’s defensive decline played a significant part in the recent rise in organizational frustration, The Athletic adds. Denver has lost its last four games, mainly due to defensive breakdowns.
  • The coaches were frustrated by, among other things, recent front office-led additions to the coaching staff, Ian Begley of SNY TV tweets.
  • Nikola Jokic was informed of the decision earlier today before it was announced, Matt Moore of Action Network tweets. Jokic had not requested a change in the front office or coaching staff, though his frustration with the way the team has performed this season played a role in ownership’s decision-making process.
  • A panel of ESPN insiders shared their thoughts on the firings, including how the moves might affect their playoff run and Jokic’s future, particularly since he’s extension-eligible this offseason.
  • In an interview posted by the team and relayed by Nuggets reporter Katy Winge (Twitter link), team governor Josh Kroenke said he didn’t make a rash decision. “Having observed that group over a period of time there were certain trends that were very worrisome to me at different points in time. But they would get masked by a few wins here and there,” he said.
  • Booth had a diplomatic response to losing his job, Jones tweets. “I don’t have any regrets. I did my job to the best of my ability,” he said.
  • Negotiations between Booth and ownership regarding an extension was at the “one-yard line” early this season before Booth turned down Kroenke’s offer, Bennett Durando of the Denver Post reports.
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Nuggets Notes: Pickett, Jokic, Kerr, Westbrook

April 5th, 2025 at 2:59pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Jalen Pickett has received extensive playing time for the Nuggets in the first three games of the month. Pickett is averaging 11.3 points, 6.0 assists and 5.3 assists in 30.3 minutes per night and hasn’t committed a turnover in two of those three contests. “He’s proven himself to be trustworthy,” coach Michael Malone told Bennett Durando of the Denver Post.

Pickett, a second-round pick in 2023, signed a four-year contract in July of that year.

We have more on the Nuggets:

  • While Nikola Jokic is considered an offensive superstar, advanced stats suggest he has quietly become an elite defender as well, ESPN’s Chris Herring and Tim MacMahon write. They note that Jokic has finished first in defensive box plus-minus, which measures a player’s box-score defensive impact and value to his team per 100 possessions, for the past three seasons. He’s within striking distance of doing it again. “He knew that if they wanted to win at a high level and become a champion, he couldn’t be a liability. Now he’s become a strength on that side of the floor and learned how to anchor a defense,” Warriors forward Draymond Green said. “He literally willed himself to become better on defense.”
  • Warriors coach Steve Kerr has high praise for Jokic, Eurohoops.net relays. “It’s unfair to compare eras, but he’s the best center I’ve ever seen. For one year, I’ve played against Kareem [Abdul-Jabbar], I’ve watched him obviously. Kareem couldn’t do all this stuff,” Kerr said. “And again, eras dictate a lot of that. We’re in the modern era, and we’re watching a guy who’s doing things that nobody has ever done before. It goes so far beyond the skill level, it’s the competitiveness, the intelligence: he’s absolutely one of the smartest players ever, and you see it in so many different ways.”
  • With Jamal Murray sidelined once again due to a hamstring injury, Russell Westbrook had a rough outing in a loss to the Warriors on Friday night, Durando points out. He shot 2-for-9 from the field and committed four turnovers in 20 minutes.
  • Westbrook made a couple of late mistakes that proved costly in a double-overtime loss to Minnesota on Tuesday night. The Athletic’s Tony Jones describes why the Nuggets need the best version of the veteran guard to make a deep playoff run this season.
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Award Candidates Who Still Need To Reach 65-Game Mark

April 2nd, 2025 at 12:59pm CST by Luke Adams

There are just 12 days left in the 2024/25 regular season, which means time is running out for certain end-of-season award candidates to meet the 65-game minimum to qualify for consideration.

A player doesn’t need to reach that 65-game mark in order to be eligible for Sixth Man of the Year, Rookie of the Year, or All-Rookie teams, but it’s a necessary requirement for most of the marquee awards: Most Valuable Player, All-NBA, Defensive Player of the Year, All-Defense, and Most Improved Player.

According to ESPN’s Bobby Marks (Twitter link), the following players who could be in the mix for one or more of those awards haven’t yet met the 65-game criteria, but still have a chance to do so:

In some cases, a player’s actual games played total doesn’t match up with the figure noted above. That’s because in order for a game to count before the 65-game minimum, the player must be on the court for at least 20 minutes. A player is also permitted to count a maximum of two games between 15 and 20 minutes toward that minimum.

Let’s use Mobley as an example. The Cavaliers big man has technically appeared in 66 games this season, but he played just 12 minutes in one of those games, 18 minutes in two of them, and 19 minutes in one. That means he only has 64 games that actually count toward the minimum — all 62 games in which he played 20-plus minutes, along with two of those games between 15-20 minutes.

Mobley will have to play at least 20 minutes once more this season in order to be eligible for awards like Defensive Player of the Year, All-Defense, and All-NBA. Given that he’s healthy and the Cavs still have seven games left on their schedule, Mobley should have no problem meeting that requirement. But it’ll be a taller order for some of the other players on this list.

Durant is currently sidelined with an ankle sprain and has been ruled out for at least two more games. He would have to play 20-plus minutes in three of the Suns‘ final four games to be award-eligible. Brunson, on the shelf due to his own ankle sprain, is in a similar boat, though the Knicks guard has a chance to return before Durant does.

Lillard, who is out indefinitely after being diagnosed with a blood clot in his calf, seems pretty unlikely to play in six of the Bucks‘ last seven games. Holiday is healthy but has no wiggle room to miss any of the Celtics‘ remaining seven games.

Many of this year’s other top award contenders have already met the 65-game criteria. Nuggets center Nikola Jokic did so in style on Tuesday night — his 65th game of the season was an incredible 61-point triple-double in a 140-139 double-overtime loss to Minnesota.

However, according to the latest straw poll conducted by Tim Bontemps of ESPN, Jokic is the clear runner-up to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (who has played 72 games) in the MVP race. Of the 100 media members polled by Bontemps, 77 picked the Thunder guard as their Most Valuable Player, while just 23 chose Jokic. The three-time MVP may need a couple more performances like Tuesday’s in order to close that gap by the end of the season.

Besides Jokic, one other notable player who has narrowly eclipsed the 65-game minimum is Cade Cunningham. The Pistons guard has missed four games in a row with a left calf injury and is considered doubtful to return on Wednesday, but he played his 65th game on March 19, prior to his recent absence.

That’s especially important for Cunningham and the Pistons because, as Bontemps notes, the fourth-year guard is considered a virtual lock to earn a spot on one of this year’s All-NBA teams, which will ensure that his maximum-salary rookie scale extension begins at 30% of the 2025/26 salary cap instead of 25%. That would increase the overall projected value of Cunningham’s five-year deal from $224.2MM to $269.1MM.

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