BREAKING: Nuggets Make Decisions on Key Coaching Contracts Before 2025-26 Season
New head coach David Adelman's staff will take shape this offseason.
The Nuggets were eliminated by the Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images
The Denver Nuggets were eliminated from championship contention this season in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs, falling to the No. 1 Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games. This summer will force a lot of decisions onto the franchise after the sweeping changes made at the end of the regular season, and Friday brought the first of those decisions.
NBA reporter Chris Haynes reported the team will not renew the contracts of four assistant coaches: Ryan Saunders, Popeye Jones, Charles Klask, and Stephen Graham. All four were on the bench when the Nuggets won the 2023 NBA championship, and now all four are on the outs.
Saunders, the son of longtime NBA figure Flip Saunders, was hired by Denver in 2022 after a failed stint as head coach of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Jones has spent the last 17 years working the NBA sideline following an 11-year playing career and joined the Nuggets in 2021. Klask has bounced around the NBA since 2000 and was brought aboard in Denver in 2018. Graham is the longest-tenured member of the group, having joined the franchise in 2016 after a short stint as an assistant in the G-League.
Their departures should not serve as a big surprise. The Nuggets fired longtime head coach Michael Malone, presumably responsible for hiring those assistants, with three games remaining in the regular season back in April. David Adelman was promoted in his stead and led the team to one playoff series win as the interim coach before getting eliminated. He was named the full-time head coach shortly thereafter.
This offseason will be largely about building out Adelman's own staff. This was the first step in that process.