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Tyronn Lue and the Los Angeles Clippers are just a few days away from their first round playoff series against the Denver Nuggets. While the Clippers have been a consistent team over the final month of the season, the Nuggets struggled towards the finish line and fired their head coach, Michael Malone, a week away from the postseason.
Despite Malone no longer being with the team, Lue doesn't plan to reach out for any inside information.
Tyronn Lue not willing to speak to Michael Malone for Nuggets intel
The Clippers and Nuggets will tip off their playoff series on Saturday evening in Denver, but unlike the last six seasons, Malone will not be on the sidelines leading Colorado's NBA team.
Michael Malone was fired 79 games into the 2024-25 regular season, with only one week and three games remaining on the schedule.
It was one of the most shocking coaching moves in recent NBA history, removing a coach who just led his team to the NBA Championship less than two seasons ago.
Tyronn Lue was asked about Malone's firing on the day it happened and why anyone would want to be a head coach in the NBA knowing something like this can happen.
“When you have an opportunity to lead a team and lead a billion dollar corporation, an organization, and you're at the forefront of that, it means a lot about who you are and how teams trust you,” Lue responded. “It's a great job, especially when you reach the pinnacle of winning an NBA Championship. And coach Malone has been able to do that, but if you see the trend now, don't win coach of the year, don't win a championship because you're going to get fired on two years. That's kind of been the trend. it sucks when anybody gets fired, but you know when coaches are doing great jobs and every time you go against that coach, you respect them and you fear what they could bring to the game. It's just a tough business.”
Over his 10 seasons with the Denver Nuggets, Malone put together a 471-327 record in the regular season, winning 59 percent of their games. Malone also accumulated a 44-36 playoff record, including an NBA Championship in 2023.
“Coach Malone is arguably one of the best coaches in the league and he's shown that year-in and year-out,” Lue added. “In the last five years, he has the most wins out of any coach. The criteria for getting hired and fired, I don't know what it is anymore when you can fire a championship coach that won a championship two years ago, leading the league in wins the last five years. You just don't understand it.”
Earlier this week, Tyronn Lue was asked if he would consider reaching out to Michael Malone to acquire some intel about the team that let him go about a week ago.
“No. I mean it's too close to try to pick somebody's brain who just got fired and just won a championship 2 years ago. I wouldn't do that. Out of respect for him, no, I wouldn't do that.”
. @LawMurrayTheNU: “Would you ever talk to Michael Malone? They just let him go, he has no obligations to the Nuggets, so would you use him as a resource?”
“No. I mean it's too close to try to pick somebody's brain who just got fired and just won a championship 2 years ago. I… pic.twitter.com/9HTibXtAsk
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) April 16, 2025
Before he was fired, Michael Malone ranked as the fourth longest tenured active coach in the NBA behind Gregg Popovich, Erik Spoelstra, and Steve Kerr. Now, that list is followed by Tom Thibodeau, Billy Donovan, Tyronn Lue, and Mark Daigneault at five seasons, respectively.
Game 1 between the LA Clippers and Denver Nuggets is scheduled to tip off at 12:30PM PST
