‘Maybe He Woke Up The Beast’: Jokic reacts to Malone’s firing with a warning

The Denver Nuggets have nothing to lose and there’s nothing more dangerous in pro sports than somebody in that position — at least, that’s Nikola Jokic’s take on the tumult of the last 36 hours that resulted in Michael Malone and Calvin Booth‘s firings.

Jokic literally led the Nuggets on the court and on the bench Wednesday night in the franchise’s first game post Malone. The 10-year leader was replaced by a combo effort of interim head coach David Adelman and a very involved three-time MVP. The result was a 124-116 Nuggets win in Sacramento, stopping a four-game skid.

Jokic tallied another triple-double as he scored 20 points, snagged 12 rebounds and tossed 11 assists. The win was huge for the 47-32 squad who are desperately fighting to avoid the Play-In Tournament and save their season.

“They woke us up. We need to be woken up before the playoffs,” Jokic told ESPN after the game. “I think when we are in there, we can, we can mess things up, you know, we can. We can fight and play with everybody.”

Jokic echoed Josh Kroenke’s thoughts in the owner’s statement after the firings, where he shared belief that this team still could win an NBA title this season. Vegas is in line with that, too, as Denver still has the sixth-best odds to win the title despite the latest coach firing by a good team in league history.

To Jokic’s credit, the Nuggets have beaten some of the NBA’s best this season, but they’ve also lost to the worst a bunch. This was one of the many signs of an issue and it resulted in inconsistent play. These struggles have now allowed the Nuggets to admit their issues, which the big man sees as a positive.

” I think Josh got the response that he wanted. People say we are vulnerable, but the beast is always most dangerous when they’re vulnerable. So maybe he woke up the beast.”

As for looking back right now? The Nuggets aren’t going to do that with two regular-season games to play ahead of the postseason.

“Where I’m come from, it’s part of the sport. People come and go,” Jokic said. “It was 10 years with the coach, and we went through everything; we were bad, we won a championship. We have some great memories. But, you know, it’s, it’s part of the business.”

The Nuggets move on without Malone and expectation — what they gain is the title of a dangerous beast with nothing to lose.

"They woke us up."

Nikola Jokic postgame, his first public comments since Michael Malone's firing:

"It's part of the sport, people come and go, but it was a 10-year relationship with Coach, and we went through everything, we were bad and then we won a championship." pic.twitter.com/uW32j7ge8G

— Joel Rush (@JoelRushNBA) April 10, 2025