Who's The Greatest Coach In Denver Nuggets History?

In this series, we’ll take a look at the illustrious list of head coaches in each NBA franchise’s history. To make a case for ‘greatest coach,’ we’ll look at win-loss record, player development, and (most importantly) team accomplishments under that coach’s tutelage.

If there was ever an NBA team that could trace the high points of its history to its lineage of coaches, it’s the Denver Nuggets.

This franchise has had its fair share of losing seasons and playoff droughts, but the record books also show that the Nuggets have made waves as a postseason threat. Without three key figures in their coaching history, the Nuggets could have never become a destination for top-tier talents to link up and collaborate on their title aspirations.

For all but a few months in the entire decade of the 80s, the Nuggets had just one head coach: Doug Moe. A controversial figure in his college days with North Carolina, Moe proved his worth as an NBA coach by amassing a 432-357 regular-season record and winning 24 playoff games with the Nuggets. Moe was the first Nuggets head coach to be named NBA Coach of the Year.

Moe received the award in 1988, and it would take 25 years before another Nuggets coach was bestowed Coach of the Year honors. In 2013, George Karl won the award after lending his tactical expertise for nine seasons. Karl was an eyebrow-raising figure in his own right, as he bashed his former star player, Carmelo Anthony, in a book published several years after their Nuggets stint.

To date, Michael Malone has been the only head coach to steer the Nuggets to an NBA title. Of the three coaches on this list, Malone has pulled off the most regular-season wins (471), and he is the only tactician with a winning record in the playoffs (44-36).

The Nuggets had the privilege of having three outstanding coaches spend around a decade with the team, but in the end, only Malone was able to win the richest prize in the league. Notwithstanding his abrupt dismissal towards the end of the 2024-25 season, Malone gets the nod as the greatest Nuggets coach ever.