Brendan Malone, longtime NBA coach and father of Nuggets' Michael Malone, dies at 88
Longtime NBA coach Brendan Malone died at the age of 88, the Denver Nuggets announced Tuesday.
"It is with tremendous sadness that we share the passing of longtime NBA coach Brendan Malone, who holds a special place amongst the organization and will be a Denver Nugget forever," the team said in a statement. "Coach Brendan Malone was a great man who left behind a great legacy in the world of basketball, but he will be remembered even more for the amazing husband, father, son and grandfather that he was and the profound impact he had on the friends, family, and colleagues who were lucky enough to know him. Our thoughts are with the entire Malone family and all of Brendan's loved ones who are feeling this loss today."
Malone was the father of current Nuggets head coach Michael Malone.
Before arriving in the NBA, Brendan Malone was an assistant at Fordham, Yale and Syracuse before taking the head-coaching role at Rhode Island in 1984. After two seasons with the Rams, Malone served as an assistant with the New York Knicks, working under Hubie Brown, Bob Hill and Rick Pitino.
Malone left New York after two seasons to join Chuck Daly's staff in Detroit where he helped the Pistons win back-to-back NBA championships in 1989 and 1990. It was during his time in Detroit that Malone helped develop the "Jordan Rules" as a way to stop Chicago Bulls star Michael Jordan.
The Pistons and Bulls met in three consecutive postseasons, with Detroit advancing after the first two meetings en route to the NBA championship and Jordan and Chicago taking their 1991 series in a sweep on their way to the first of three titles in a row.
In 1995, Malone was named the first coach of the expansion Toronto Raptors. He spent one season there before serving as an assistant with the Knicks, Pistons, Indiana Pacers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Orlando Magic. His last time as a head coach was on an interim basis in 2005 with Cleveland for 18 games following the firing of Paul Silas.
Over Malone's 27 seasons coaching in the NBA, teams that he was a part of made the playoffs 20 times with a combined 1,165-1,001 record. Those teams reached seven conference finals, four NBA Finals and won two NBA championships.
Malone and his son, Michael, are the only father-son coaching duo to have won NBA titles. Michael led the Nuggets to the 2023 NBA title with a five-game series win over the Miami Heat in June.
This past July, the National Basketball Coaches Association named Malone the 2023 Tex Winter Assistant Coach Lifetime Impact Award.
