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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.
For what it’s worth, Malone said in March that Jokić should win MVP “10 times out of 10.”
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.
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