Nuggets coach Michael Malone is still waiting for a sign from his father: “He was my biggest supporter”

In hindsight, one ejection means more to Michael Malone than all the others. It was Dec. 7, 2016, in Brooklyn.

Malone was in the second month of the second season of his second head coaching job in the NBA. Most Nuggets fans probably remember that period in franchise history for what happened eight days later, when Malone inserted a young center named Nikola Jokic into the starting lineup for good. But Malone’s memory takes him to a widely forgotten 116-111 loss to the Nets.



Early in the third quarter, he was thrown out for arguing a no-call, but really because he wanted to light a spark with his team trailing by 21. As he stormed off the court, he was trailed by two people: then-general manager Tim Connelly, and his dad. The three of them watched the rest of the game together in the Nuggets locker room, enjoying a slice of pizza.

Denver rallied from down 29 and almost won. “That might have been one of the last times my father was able to come to a game,” Malone said. Memories of his father have resurfaced in Malone’s mind constantly the last six months, and they will continue to as the Nuggets embark on another playoff run, starting Saturday.

When Brendan Malone died Oct. 9, 2023, it left the ninth-year Nuggets coach without his confidant, mentor and critic. It also left him without the customary postgame text messages or phone calls he’d received for years.

“They were never soft and cuddly,” Michael told The Denver Post. “‘You’re great, son.’ No, what .