Nikola Jokic was informed of the Denver Nuggets’ decision to part ways with Michael Malone shortly before it was announced.
“I knew a little bit before everybody,” Jokic said after the game. “And he told me, ‘We made a decision.’ So it was not a discussion. It was a decision. He told me why. And so I listened. And I accepted it. I’m not going to tell you what he told me. I’m going to keep that private.”
Jokic and the Nuggets’ locker room certainly felt the jolt that ownership was looking to deliver with the playoffs starting next week.
“I mean, when someone wants to make [a personnel change] or change energy, that’s probably what they do,” the Serbian center said. “In my country, if someone get fired, [the] word is probably you are the next [one to go].
“… I mean if you want to change something, that’s how [they] do it, and the owner wanted to do it.”
Jokic reached out to Malone after the firing.
“I texted to him,” Jokic said of Malone. “It was a 10-year relationship, so it was heavy day for everybody, probably especially for him and his family. But I would say it’s part of the business.”
