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Denver Nuggets Get Major Coaching News on Friday

Originally posted on Athlon Sports
By Nathaniel Holloway | Last updated May 30, 2025 1:34 PM ET

There have been quite a few coaching moves made around the NBA thus far during the postseason from teams who either did not make the playoffs or were eliminated from title contention.

Among them are the Sacramento Kings, who named Doug Christie as their new head coach, and the San Antonio Spurs, who named Mitch Johnson as their new head coach after Gregg Popovich’s promotion.

Of course, the Denver Nuggets also made a coaching decision after they were eliminated in the second round by the Oklahoma City Thunder as they removed the interim tag from David Adelman and named him as their new head coach.

Adelman took over as Denver’s head coach late in the season after the Nuggets made a shocking decision to not only fire head coach Michael Malone but also general manager Calvin Booth.

While this was a surprise, Adelman was able to lead Denver to the second round of the playoffs behind their stars of Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon and they were able to push the Thunder to seven games before ultimately being eliminated.

With Adelman now the new head coach for the Nuggets, he has some major decisions to make regarding his coaching staff and NBA insider Chris Haynes provided a major report on Friday.

According to Haynes, the Nuggets are not renewing the contracts of assistant coaches Ryan Saunders, Popeye Jones, Charles Klask and Stephen Graham, all of whom played a key role in helping Denver win a title in 2023.

Sources: Denver Nuggets are not renewing contracts of assistant coaches Ryan Saunders, Popeye Jones, Charles Klask, and Stephen Graham. They played integral role in securing 2023 NBA championship. Contracts expire at end of month. pic.twitter.com/cXIJtyFDDQ
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) May 30, 2025

Haynes also mentioned that all their contracts were set to expire at the end of May.

This is a massive report by Haynes and now both the Nuggets and Adelman have some key decisions to make as they bring in an almost entirely different coaching staff to the one Malone put together during his time with the team.

Of course, Adelman will likely have a large say in who he wants on his coaching staff but the Nuggets first have to worry about hiring a new general manager before the offseason begins.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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