OKLAHOMA CITY — David Adelman wasn’t interested in addressing the elephant in the room, but his players were.
The moment the final buzzer blared on Sunday, the Nuggets didn’t have a head coach.
Their season was over in Oklahoma City, as was the interim portion of Adelman’s tenure after 17 games in charge. He coached almost as many Game 7s (two) as he did regular-season contests (three). That’s how preposterous the circumstances of his temporary promotion were.
At least one player unambiguously hopes it’s more than temporary.
“I love DA,” Aaron Gordon said. “I hope he’s here next year. I hope he’s our coach. I hope he gets an entire training camp and a whole offseason.”
“I’m hoping he gets that job,” added Michael Porter Jr. “I think he’s a great, personable coach.”
Employed by the Nuggets since 2017, Adelman took over as interim coach in April after the team fired Michael Malone. It was the last week of the regular season, and the Nuggets were in danger of falling to the Play-In Tournament. Adelman shepherded them back into fourth place, then into the second round of the playoffs.
“I don’t think it’s time for me to think about that,” he said when asked about the possibility of earning the full-time gig. “We just lost Game 7. Our season is over. Decision-makers will make that decision. Obviously, blessed to have this opportunity to take the helm and lead this team. … If I’m not back next year, I’ll obviously never forget this. It’s been an incredible experience. And to have the buy-in from the guys was really special for me.”
Nuggets president and governor Josh Kroenke announced after firing Malone that a full search for a replacement would be conducted after the season. Sources told The Denver Post that even after Denver’s lopsided Game 7 loss, team brass was left highly impressed by the turnaround Adelman oversaw. He is considered a strong candidate for the position.
And while not every player endorsed the 44-year-old as explicitly as Gordon — Nikola Jokic said that’s “above my pay grade” — the locker room’s evaluation of Adelman was entirely positive.
“I think he did a great job,” Jamal Murray said, pointing out “the different schemes that we came up with.”
“It’s a tough spot to be,” Jokic said. “He had three games to change something, and I think he changed the energy. I think the guys were woken up a little bit. The guys had more energy. He made us believe in something, and we played good, you know? We played a seven-game series with probably the best team in the NBA, and we had opportunity. We had chances. So I think he did a really good job.”
Malone was the third coach fired during the 2024-25 NBA season, joining Sacramento’s Mike Brown and Memphis’ Taylor Jenkins. In both other cases, the interim coach who finished the season ended up getting the full-time job, in spite of neither the Kings nor Grizzlies winning a playoff game.
Adelman has never been a full-time NBA head coach, yet he already has high-stakes postseason experience on his resume.
“Everyone’s gonna remember these Game 7s and the playoff series and all that. I’m gonna remember the last three games of the (regular) season,” he said. “Those were big-time games, and for the guys that quickly to come together and give us this opportunity — very special to me. I’ll never forget it. Something I think down the road, when I’m older, this group will always remember this.”