On Monday, Denver Nuggets governor Josh Kroenke held his first news conference since firing head coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth. Kroenke spoke on a wide range of topics in the session and even addressed the recent chatter surrounding the fact that Nikola Jokic has never had a teammate make the All-Star team.
“We have the best player in the world,” Kroenke said. “I think that we’ve got a great roster and there’s some really good players in there that know how to win and they seek the moment at the highest level. I saw some stuff out there, ‘Well, Nikola Jokic has never had an All-Star teammate.’
“I was like, he’s got some teammates that are ready for that big moment and they’re not afraid of it,” Kroenke stated. “And then there’s a lot of All-Stars out there that can’t say that.”
There certainly aren’t too many All-Stars out there who have stepped up in the big moments the way Nuggets guard Jamal Murray has. Murray averaged 26.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, 7.1 assists, 1.5 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game in the 2023 playoffs to help the team win their first-ever NBA championship.
However, the Canadian has never quite come close to replicating that form in the regular season. Murray averaged 21.4 points, 3.9 rebounds, 6.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game in 2024-25, and this was arguably the best he’s ever played in the regular season.
It would be harsh on him to claim that Jokic, who averaged 29.6 points, 12.7 rebounds, 10.2 assists, 1.8 steals, and 0.6 blocks per game in 2024-25, has played with a bunch of nobodies, but the Serbian hasn’t had the kind of support that some other greats have had. He’s 30 years old now, and the Nuggets need to maximize their chances of winning for as long as he’s in his prime.
In this news conference, Kroenke was also asked about the rumors flying around about another MVP on the team, Russell Westbrook. There had been reports about Westbrook becoming a problem in the locker room, but the 44-year-old dismissed them.
“I can’t say enough good things about my experience with Russ,” Kroenke said. “… Russ has been nothing but a positive for this group… Russ was a very spicy ingredient for us to add, and we needed it. I thought we needed some spice this year.”
Westbrook was reportedly a big reason why Malone and Booth clashed. The GM wanted the young players he’d drafted to get gametime, but the coach went with the veteran instead. The tension between them ended up leading to both of them getting fired just days before the end of the regular season, and Kroenke admitted it was a difficult decision to make.
“It was an incredibly tough decision for us for a lot of levels,” Kroenke stated. “But I think at the very end of the day, it was very tough decision because of the amount of respect I personally have for both of what those gentlemen did for us while they were here.
“Brought us out first championship,” Kronke continued. “Helped establish a new culture, new standards that will continue to move on into the future. And to be frank, neither of them deserved it, and so for that, I apologize. From my position as a leader of the organization, I needed to be better at different points in time.”
Kroenke also revealed he considered making changes around Thanksgiving following a slow start, but decided to give the team more time. He also admitted he contemplated changes in the lead-up to All-Star weekend, but the Nuggets entered it on an eight-game winning streak.
Kroenke, understandably, wasn’t comfortable making a change during that streak. He now feels, though, that it just masked the downward trend the Nuggets were on.
Another topic that Kroenke addressed here was a report that claimed Nuggets ownership had made Michael Porter Jr. untouchable in trade talks, thanks to their shared alma mater: Missouri. Kroenke made it crystal clear that the report was inaccurate.
“If it wasn’t such a serious accusation, I would probably laugh a little harder,” Kroenke said. “… I think that any kind of report saying that we’re not open to trading everybody possible to improve the team is complete false… I’m certainly not going to be green-lighting any trades around here when I don’t see complete organizational cohesion and we’re not maximizing the group we got.”
Kroenke also announced that Ben Tenzer has been promoted to interim GM. Tenzer was the GM for Grand Rapids Gold, the Nuggets’ G League affiliate. It’s unclear whether he or interim head coach David Adelman could take over full-time after this season.
