Kings vs. Nuggets Preview: What kind of crazy team fires Mike Malone??

An NBA season full of crazy moves and surprises just got even crazier yesterday as the Nuggets announced they have fired both GM Calvin Booth and Head Coach Mike Malone yesterday, just three games before the end of the season with the Nuggets still in play for the 3rd seed.  David Adelman, son of Kings coaching legend Rick Adelman takes the reins for Denver now and fittingly will make his debut in Sacramento.  The Kings clinched the Play-In last night with Phoenix losing, but still need to ensure they get homecourt advantage against Dallas so both teams have something at stake tonight.

Let’s talk Kings basketball!

When: 7:00 PM PT, Wednesday, April 9th, 2025
Where: Golden 1 Center, Sacramento, CA
TV: ESPN, NBC Sports California
Radio: Sactown Sports 1140 AM

For Your Consideration

The writing may have been on the wall for both Mike Malone and Calvin Booth but the timing of their firing yesterday was shocking.  There are only three games left in the regular season and the Nuggets are still in play for the 3rd seed.  However, the West is so tight they also could slip into the Play-In.  Denver is currently one game behind the Lakers for the 3rd seed, but also just one game ahead of the Timberwolves for the 8th seed.  There theoretically could be a six-way tie for seeds 3-8 in the West, so every game is incredibly important.  Denver has lost four straight despite Nikola Jokic averaging 45 points, 12.3 rebounds, 10.7 assists and 2 steals during that stretch, including 61 points in a double OT loss to the Wolves.  Perhaps Malone had lost the locker room and the Nuggets felt that their best chance to make up some ground in the final week of the NBA season and during the playoffs was by getting rid of him, but it’s still a very curious time to let go of a veteran steady hand at the tiller who not two years ago led your franchise to an NBA Championship.

The Kings will hopefully be looking to kick the Nuggets while they’re down.  Sacramento is riding a three-game winning streak heading into this final three game homestand to end the season.  Sacramento clinched a trip to the Play-In tournament last night as the Suns lost to the Warriors, but now will look to secure a home Play-In game.  Sacramento’s magic number for that is two, so any combination of two Kings wins and Mavericks losses over this week will do it.  The Suns could also technically still make the Play-In, but they’d have to go 3-0 and Dallas would have to go 0-3, which seems unlikely.  The Kings theoretically could clinch that 9th seed and home Play-In game tonight by beating the Nuggets and Dallas losing to the Lakers.

Denver has beaten the Kings in all three matchups this season, but the Kings have had a chance in each of those games. In the first matchup, Sacramento blew a 10 point lead in the final four minutes, losing to a Jamal Murray pull up with 8 seconds left (this was the homestand from hell that got Mike Brown fired).  The second game saw the Kings dig a big hole, but they did manage to at least make it interesting in the 4th quarter.  Finally, about a month ago the Kings jumped the Nuggets from the start with a 42-29 1st quarter, but collapsed in the 4th quarter, getting outscored 32-17 and losing by 6.  This is a team that the Kings have shown they can hang with, but they just haven’t gotten over the hump.

It will be much easier going for the Kings tonight if Zach LaVine keeps lighting it up like he has been of late.  LaVine has been on an absolute heater over this winning streak, averaging 35 points and shooting 65.5% from three (19-29).  The Kings tend to do much better when LaVine does well;  When LaVine scores 22 or more points, the Kings are 11-3.  When he doesn’t the Kings are 2-13.  That’s a huge gulf and speaks to how important LaVine’s scoring punch is for this team, and it will be even more so if Malik Monk misses time with the calf injury he suffered last game.  It also wouldn’t surprise me to see the Kings try to get newly signed Terence Davis involved, especially as Keegan Murray and Jake LaRavia will also be out tonight as they deal with their injuries. Hopefully both of them are close to returning in the near future.

The Nuggets obviously have more at stake than the Kings here, but they’re also going through a bit more turmoil.  Hopefully the Kings can take advantage and keep their positive momentum going and get some revenge for the earlier season losses.

Prediction

Another Kings-Nuggets barnburner but despite an incredible game from Nikola Jokic and frustratingly, Russell Westbrook, the Kings come out on top thanks to another LaBeam masterclass performance.

Kings 131, Nuggets 127