Back in 1983, coach Larry Brown left the New Jersey Nets with six games still left on their schedule, but the Denver Nuggets have eclipsed them with their latest in-season change. Never in the history of the NBA did a team change coaches with just three games left, but that’s exactly what the Nuggets did two weeks ago after severing all ties with GM Calvin Booth and Michael Malone, after promising assistant David Adelman the role of the interim head coach. Were there underlying tensions that prompted team owner, Stan Kroenke, to take such a decision? The Denver Post has some latest on it.

Multiple sources hinted at a fracture between the coaching staff and the front office, so much so that the HC and GM would rarely engage with each other outside of the meetings with Kroenke, who unwillingly became a mediator. This seeped into the team’s culture and the locker room until the Kroenke family took a radical decision to fire them both. “What I would say is that, having observed that group over a period of time, there were certain trends that were very worrisome to me at different points in time,” Kroenke’s son, Josh, stated. This was a decision that was made after a lot of deliberation.

The Kroenke family kept a close eye on the team’s operations and audited the state they were in. The Nuggets weren’t playing at the level that was expected out of them: Their defense was regressing, Nikola Jokic didn’t look as great in some games, rotations and close-outs looked callous. And while Malone took up those difficult conversations with his players, it looked like his explosive coaching style and all the yelling simply didn’t work. Nikola Jokic, of course, was aware of the increasing frustration in the locker room. But it seems, after the firing of Malone, the player is stepping up to keep the team together. Someone who is watching everything closely, DeAndre Jordan, had some stories to tell on ‘Run It Back’ on YouTube.

‘Boogie’ Cousins wanted to know from the 36-year-old how Malone’s firing has impacted ‘Joker’. Has Jokic taken more of a leadership role? Has he used his voice more in the locker room lately? Well, Jordan stated: “I think that he knows that, obviously, with the release of Mo, it was a big hit to our team, our organization. So I think that he knew he had to step up even more with his voice. This is the most that I’ve really seen him engage in timeouts, in the locker room, at halftime, pregame.

“He’s always done it, but he’s done it a lot more. I think that he knows that it was a big deal. It’s kind of funny to see him get excited because sometimes he’ll stumble over his words and then throw some Serbian in there. We’re like, ‘Bro, we didn’t understand that. Go back and do it in English.'” You could say Nikola Jokic is the binding force of the Denver Nuggets right now. Listening to his teammates’ plea, the Serbian superstar takes a deep breath and continues with instructions in English.

“It’s also great to see a great player like that, a leader, come out and just be a huge voice for you,” Jordan concluded. Well, it’s not new in the NBA to have the face of the franchise become the leader when the situation demands. And here, Jokic rising to the occasion seems like the right medicine for the Denver Nuggets. In fact, four days ago, ESPN’s Shams Charania revealed how the player took charge of the locker room and told his teammates that they still have goals and that they need to stick together as a unit.

Meanwhile, DeAndre Jordan revealed some private locker room situations following the firing of their head coach two weeks ago.

Latest details on Nuggets after Malone’s firing emerge!

On April 8, the Denver Nuggets announced that they had just fired Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth. It looked like the aftermath of their four consecutive defeats right before the Playoffs run and internal issues. Meanwhile, Coach Malone held himself accountable for the loss, thus giving more reasons to the front office to show him the door.

So, DJ narrated, “It was very surprising. We had a meeting that was called, and we were told. It was shocking. But at the end of the day, the world doesn’t stop spinning.” The incident came as a shock for Nikola Jokic & Co., but when has something like this ever stopped the NBA from moving forward?

“The basketball is not going to stop because of something that’s going on with our team. But I love Mo. Mo was great for us. We won a championship together. So that will not be forgotten. But at the end of the day, we’ve got to keep moving and keep going,” Jordan added.

All in all, Nikola Jokic’s stepping in as the leader, and the Nuggets aren’t slowing down. Sure, losing Malone stung, but this squad’s not built to sulk. Instead, they’re syncing up, firing back, and leaning into Jokic’s quiet storm. Who knew chaos could bring out this kind of clarity?