Michael Malone’s tenure as Denver Nuggets coach came to a shocking end when he was fired just days before the 2025 NBA playoffs began, and shortly after his former team was eliminated in the second round, he joined ESPN as a playoff analyst.
It didn’t take him long to raise some eyebrows in his new role, either.
Shortly after the Oklahoma City Thunder defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-88 in Game 1 of the Western Conference finals on Tuesday night, Malone said Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander “showed why he’s the MVP.”
Here’s the clip from Malone’s postgame TV appearance:
On one hand, this isn’t outlandish at all. Gilgeous-Alexander is widely expected to win the MVP, and him scoring 20 points in the second half (and 31 overall) was a good indicator of why he holds that status.
On the other hand, Malone is just a month and a half removed from coaching another superstar in Nikola Jokić, who has won three of the last four MVP awards and was in a close race with Gilgeous-Alexander throughout the season.
It’s unclear if Malone, who also said Tuesday that Oklahoma City has the “best fans in the NBA,” was intentionally trying to take a shot at his former star player. But it’s not a stretch to reach that conclusion.
While Gilgeous-Alexander is the perceived leader in the clubhouse, Jokić, who played 10 seasons for Malone, certainly made a compelling MVP case as he averaged a triple-double for the regular season with 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game. His points and assists figures were both career highs.
Gilgeous-Alexander, Jokić and Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks are the three finalists for the award, which is expected to be announced in the coming days.
This news was originally published on this post .
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