Mike Malone

Michael Malone (born September 15, 1971) is an American basketball coach who is the head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team. He previously coached in the National Basketball Association (NBA), where he was the head coach of the Sacramento Kings from 2013 to 2014 and the Denver Nuggets from 2015 to 2025. With the Nuggets, Malone won the 2023 NBA Finals, the franchise's first championship.

Early life and education Born in the Astoria neighborhood of the New York City borough Queens, Malone is the son of Brendan Malone, a former NBA head coach. Malone began his high school playing career at Bishop Hendricken in Warwick, Rhode Island, from 1984–1986 while his father was head coach at the University of Rhode Island. He transferred to Seton Hall Preparatory School after his father joined the New York Knicks coaching staff as an assistant. He appeared in 107 games and started 39 of them as a point guard. He graduated in 1994 with a degree in history. During his four seasons with the Greyhounds, Malone totaled 370 points, 279 assists, and 79 steals in 18.5 minutes per game. He was inducted to the Loyola Athletics Hall of Fame in March 2026.

Coaching career

College (1994–2001) While completing his degree at Loyola, Malone was an assistant high school basketball coach at Friends School of Baltimore.

Early NBA years (2001–2011) He later moved up to the NBA in 2001 as a coaching associate with the New York Knicks who worked with players, coaching staff, personnel and the video coordinator and edited scouting reports. The Knicks promoted Malone to assistant coach in 2003. Malone later served as an assistant coach for the Cleveland Cavaliers from to . With Cleveland, Malone helped coach the Cavaliers to five consecutive playoff appearances, including the 2007 Finals, and a franchise-record, league-best 66–16 season in the . In the , the Warriors improved from a 23–43 record to finish 47–35 and earn the team's first playoff berth since 2007. As the sixth seed in the 2013 playoffs, the Warriors upset the third-seed Denver Nuggets in the first round and lost to the eventual Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs in six games the next round.

Sacramento Kings (2013–2014) On June 3, 2013, Malone was hired by majority owner Vivek Ranadivé as the new head coach of the Sacramento Kings. With the hiring, Malone and his father became the second father-son duo in NBA history, after Bill Musselman and Eric Musselman, to head coach an NBA team. On December 15, 2014, he was fired by the Kings after starting the 2014–15 season with an 11–13 win–loss record.

Denver Nuggets (2015–2025) On June 15, 2015, Malone was named the new head coach of the Denver Nuggets. In the , he led the Nuggets to the second seed in the Western Conference, behind the Golden State Warriors, with a 54–28 record. In the Nuggets first playoff berth in six seasons, Denver defeated the San Antonio Spurs in the first round in seven games, before being eliminated in the semifinals by the Portland Trail Blazers, also in seven games. On December 24, 2019, the Nuggets announced that they had agreed to a contract extension with Malone. During the 2020 playoffs in the NBA Bubble, the Nuggets would become the first team in league history to overcome multiple 3–1 deficits in a single postseason, defeating the Utah Jazz and Los Angeles Clippers in the first round and semifinals, respectively. Despite the historic feat, Denver would be eliminated in the Western Conference finals by the eventual NBA champion, the Los Angeles Lakers, in five games.

On March 23, 2022, Malone and the Nuggets reached an agreement on a multi-year contract extension. In the , outside of a few instances of being tied with the Memphis Grizzlies, the Nuggets held sole position of the top seed in the Western Conference from December 20 until the end of the regular season, earning Malone a second All-Star Game coaching gig in five years in the process. The Nuggets defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves in five games in the first round before needing six games to outlast Devin Booker, newly acquired Kevin Durant and the Phoenix Suns in the conference semifinals to advance to their second Conference Finals in four seasons. As in 2020, they were again be matched up with LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and the Los Angeles Lakers. Denver went on to sweep the Lakers and advance to their first NBA Finals in franchise history. It was also the first time a Nuggets team had ever swept an opponent in postseason history.

In the 2023 Finals, Denver faced the Miami Heat, the first eighth seed to reach the Finals since the 1998–99 New York Knicks. Holding a 3–1 series advantage heading into Game 5, the Nuggets, who entered the game with a series shooting average of 37.6% from three-point range, shot a historically poor 6.7% from distance in the first half. Additionally, Denver committed 10 turnovers in the first half and missed 10 of their first 19 free throws. Despite their shooting struggles, the Nuggets came back from an early 10-point deficit to take an 83–76 lead with 4:43 left in the fourth quarter and would ultimately defeat Miami 94–89 at home to clinch the first championship title in their 47-year history. Nikola Jokić was named the Finals MVP. On November 24, 2024, with a 127–102 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, Malone recorded his 433rd win with the Nuggets, surpassing Doug Moe for the most wins in franchise history. On April 8, 2025, after four consecutive losses, the Nuggets fired Malone and announced that they would not extend general manager Calvin Booth's contract. Malone's dismissal, 79 games into the season, tied the latest in-season change by any team in NBA history, and became the latest for a playoff team.

North Carolina Tar Heels (2026–present) On April 7, 2026, Malone was announced as the 20th head coach of the North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball team, signing a six-year contract worth a total of $50 million plus incentives. Malone's hiring marked the first time since the appointment of Frank McGuire in 1952 that North Carolina had selected a head coach with no previous ties to the program; McGuire was replaced in 1961 by his assistant Dean Smith, and all subsequent coaches either played for or coached alongside Smith.

National team coaching career In January 2020, Malone joined the Serbian national team coaching staff as a consultant for the Olympic Qualifying Tournament.

Broadcasting career After being fired by the Nuggets, Malone was named as a studio analyst for ABC/ESPN. He later joined as the studio analyst for NBA Countdown, replacing Bob Myers.

Personal life Malone and his wife Jocelyn have two daughters; the younger of whom, Bridget, plays volleyball at North Carolina.

Head coaching record NBA

College