In the past few years, four of the past six NBA championship coaches have been fired. The NBA has never shied away from throwing their coach under the bus, but to fire a coach that brought the team a championship in recent years? The question has to be asked as to why this is becoming such a habit.
Denver Nuggets Announce Firing Of Mike Malone
The Denver Nuggets have never seen a tremendous amount of success. Before Mike Malone’s tenure with the team, they had only seen three appearances in the Conference Finals, none of which they won. Malone began coaching the Nuggets in 2015. Since then, has made the playoffs every year since 2019, reaching the Western Conference Finals twice and winning a Finals Championship in the 2022-23 season.
With consistent success and a chance at clinching home-court advantage this season, what could have possibly led to the dismissal of the longtime head coach? The Nuggets are always a threatening team in the playoffs. Led by Serbian star Nikola Jokic, Denver will always be able to contend in the feisty Western Conference.
Malone had seen a consistent amount of success, but as the Denver Nuggets President and Governor Josh Kroenke put it: “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 said.
Kroenke believed the season was bound to end in a disaster and saw the team moving in a different direction. Still, with the 2024-25 season coming to a close, is it ever the correct move to dismiss a head coach, especially so when the NBA Playoffs are this close?
Mike Budenholzer Fired By Bucks Two Years After Winning NBA Championship
While this one seemed bizarre, Milwaukee hasn’t taken a slide since Budenholzer’s dismissal. After clinching the 1st seed of the Eastern Conference, the Bucks would face the Miami Heat. While the Heat would go on to have one of the most puzzling Cinderella stories of the 21st century, the Milwaukee Bucks would be on the other end of that stick.
They faced an 8-seed Heat team and were assumed to face no troubles along the way. But as fate would have it, the Bucks would go on to lose in 5 games. After a disastrous Game 3 and 4, Milwaukee had a chance to turn the tide and pull out a necessary Game 5 win to extend the series. Going into overtime, the tension could not have been higher, but as we all know now, the Bucks lost that game and faced backlash during the offseason. Budenholzer would not receive the benefit of the doubt that he could take this team back to the promised land. He was fired immediately after the first-round loss. The Bucks moved on swiftly.
Other Championship Coaches Fired
Starting off the list was former Cleveland Cavaliers coach Tyronn Lue. He was a key component of the long-desired Cleveland Cavaliers championship team in 2016. After tension continued to build and the Cavs jumped off to a miserable 0-6 start of the 2018-19 season, he was dismissed.
While he never received the credit he deserved for his tenure with the Cavaliers, he found his footing with the Los Angeles Clippers agreeing to become the head coach of the franchise in 2020 after taking the role of assistant head coach in 2019.
Nick Nurse was a part of one of the greatest championship runs the league has ever witnessed with the Toronto Raptors. He was the head coach of the Raptors team that had won the NBA finals in 2019 against the Golden State Warriors. While Kawhi Leonard received a lot of praise for his play, Nurse is often forgotten about as well as many players from that championship team.
After a disappointing conclusion of the 2022-23 NBA season, the Raptors decided to fire Nurse. The decision wasn’t a shock as the Raptors would go on to miss the postseason after losing a play-in game against the Chicago Bulls. The franchise hasn’t been the same since.
Finishing off the list is former Los Angeles Lakers coach Frank Vogel. He was the head coach and the scapegoat for the team’s failure before his dismissal in 2022. In his first year as head coach, he won the NBA Championship alongside a star-studded Lakers team. After back-to-back disappointing seasons, the Lakers figured it was best to part ways with Vogel.
Final Thoughts
The NBA is on a slippery slope by firing so many championship-winning head coaches. It shows a lack of patience by organizations. They are unwilling to weather the tough times. Instead, they are looking for a quick fix and the head coaches are the casualty.
