The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver, Colorado. They play in the Northwest Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA).[1] The Nuggets were founded as the Denver Rockets of the American Basketball Association (ABA) in 1967.[1] In 1974, in anticipation of moving to the NBA, the franchise held a contest to choose a new trademarked name for the team, as Rockets was already in use by the Houston Rockets and the name Nuggets won.[1] In 1976, the ABA folded, and the NBA decided to admit four ABA teams into the league, including the Nuggets, the San Antonio Spurs, the Indiana Pacers, and the New York Nets.[1]

There have been 22 head coaches for the Nuggets franchise. The franchise's first head coach was Bob Bass, who led the team to the division semifinals, losing to the New Orleans Buccaneers.[1] Doug Moe (1988) and George Karl (2013) are the only Nuggets coaches to win the NBA Coach of the Year Award.[2] Michael Malone is the franchise's all-time leader in both regular season and playoff wins.[3] Larry Brown & George Karl are the only Nuggets coaches to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame, although John McLendon was inducted as a contributor, but not a coach.[4] In 1976, Brown coached the Nuggets to the team's only ABA championship game.[1] John McLendon, Joe Belmont, Donnie Walsh, Dan Issel, Bill Hanzlik, Mike Evans, Jeff Bzdelik, Michael Cooper, and Brian Shaw spent their entire NBA coaching careers with the Nuggets. [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

Key

GC Games coached
W Wins
L Losses
Win% Winning percentage
# Number of coaches[a]
* Spent entire NBA head coaching career with the Nuggets
† Elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as a coach

Coaches

Note: Statistics are correct of the 2024–25 season.

# Name Term[b] GC W L Win% GC W L Win% Achievements Reference
Regular season Playoffs
Denver Rockets
1 Bob Bass 1967–1969 156 89 67 .571 12 5 7 .417 [13]
2 John McLendon* 1969 28 9 19 .321 — — — — [5]
3 Joe Belmont* 1969–1970 69 45 24 .652 12 5 7 .417 [6]
4 Stan Albeck 1970–1971 71 27 44 .380 — — — — [14]
5 Alex Hannum 1971–1974 252 118 134 .468 12 4 8 .333 [15]
Denver Nuggets
6 Larry Brown† 1974–1979 385 251 134 .652 45 21 24 .467 Led team to and lost 1975–76 ABA Finals[1] [4]
7 Donnie Walsh* 1979–1980 142 60 82 .423 3 1 2 .333 [7]
8 Doug Moe 1980–1990 789 432 357 .548 61 24 37 .393 1987–88 NBA Coach of the Year[2] [3]
9 Paul Westhead 1990–1992 164 44 120 .268 — — — — [16]
10 Dan Issel* 1992–1995 198 96 102 .485 12 6 6 .500 [8]
11 Gene Littles 1995 16 3 13 .188 — — — — [17]
12 Bernie Bickerstaff 1995–1996 127 59 68 .465 3 0 3 .000 [18]
13 Dick Motta 1996–1997 69 17 52 .246 — — — — [19]
14 Bill Hanzlik* 1997–1998 82 11 71 .134 — — — — [9]
15 Mike D'Antoni 1998–1999 50 14 36 .280 — — — — [20]
— Dan Issel* 1999–2001 190 84 106 .442 — — — — [8]
16 Mike Evans* 2001–2002 56 18 38 .321 — — — — [10]
17 Jeff Bzdelik* 2002–2004 192 73 119 .380 5 1 4 .200 [11]
18 Michael Cooper* 2004 14 4 10 .286 — — — — [12]
19 George Karl† 2004–2013 680 423 257 .622 59 21 38 .356 2012–13 NBA Coach of the Year [21]
20 Brian Shaw* 2013–2015 141 56 85 .397 — — — — [22]
21 Melvin Hunt* 2015 23 10 13 .435 — — — — [23]
22 Michael Malone 2015–2025 798 471 327 .590 80 44 36 .550 NBA championship (2023) [24]
23 David Adelman* 2025–present 3 3 0 1.000 14 7 7 .500 [25]

Notes

References

General
Specific
  1. "Nuggets: 1967 to 1979". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on October 12, 2008.
  2. "Coach of the Year". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. Archived from the original on September 15, 2010.
  3. "Doug Moe Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 8, 2011.
  4. "Larry Brown Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 12, 2010.
  5. "John McLendon Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008.
  6. "Joe Belmont Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 20, 2008.
  7. "Donnie Walsh Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 20, 2008.
  8. "Dan Issel Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 25, 2010.
  9. "Bill Hanzlik's Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 20, 2015.
  10. "Mike Evans Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008.
  11. "Jeff Bzdelik Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008.
  12. "Michael Cooper Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2008.
  13. "Bob Bass Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 2, 2008.
  14. "Stan Albeck Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on May 16, 2017.
  15. "Alex Hannum Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019.
  16. "Paul Westhead Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on February 25, 2011.
  17. "Gene Littles Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on September 5, 2008.
  18. "Bernie Bickerstaff Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on August 7, 2011.
  19. "Dick Motta Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019.
  20. "Mike D'Antoni Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on October 4, 2011.
  21. "George Karl Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on November 24, 2010.
  22. "Brian Shaw Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on April 9, 2014.
  23. "Melvin Hunt Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.
  24. "Nuggets name Michael Malone new head coach". NBA.com. Turner Sports Interactive, Inc. June 15, 2015. Archived from the original on October 25, 2015.
  25. "David Adelman Coaching Record". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC.
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