The Denver Nuggets are ripping the interim tag off David Adelman, making him the full-time coach of the team headed into the 2025-26 season.
It means the Phoenix Suns have the only current opening at head coach in the NBA.
A longtime assistant, Adelman was made the interim late in the season and now signs a deal to chase championships as Denver’s bench boss.
Taking over with just three games left in the regular season after the Nuggets fired Michael Malone, Adelman led Denver to the playoffs and a series win over the Los Angeles Clippers.
The Nuggets fought hard against the NBA’s top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder but fell in Game 7 after collapsing in Games 4 and 5. Despite the down ending, many were still high on Adelman.
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Adelman, 44, has been on the Nuggets staff since 2017 and had been the lead assistant for a few years after Chris Finch, Wes Unseld Jr. and Jordi Fernandez had gotten promotions elsewhere.
Adelman is the son of Hall of Famer Rick Adelman, who led the Blazers from 1989-1994, then was the head coach of Golden State, Sacramento, Houston and Minnesota. The younger Adelman got his first NBA gig working for his father and the Timberwolves.
Adelman is a former Trail Blazers ball boy who would listen to his father’s halftime speeches and grew up in Oregon, his first win came against Portland in 2023.
“I love D.A.,” Aaron Gordon said after losing to the Thunder. “I hope he’s here next year. I hope he’s our coach. I hope he gets an entire training camp, and a whole offseason and a whole training camp to figure out his philosophy.”
“I’m so grateful to [Adelman],” Christian Braun said on Sunday. “He was awesome to us. I think the guys really like him as a person, as a coach. He was great for us.”
“I think the guys were woken up a little bit,” Nikola Jokic said after Game 7. “The guys had more energy. He made us believe in something and we played good.”
In just 17 games coaching the Nuggets, Adelman already moved to fifth all-time in franchise history for coaching playoff wins.
Denver returned to many of its principles defined early in Malone’s years of resilience and tenacity. At the same time, Adelman added a fresh flavor — playing a zone defense for large stretches of the playoffs. He also did just about as much as he could in terms of experimentation with a limited roster: going small, reaching into the team’s depth and playing no favorites besides Jokic.
Adelman filled in for the Nuggets in 2023 when Malone was out sick. He’s also had stints leading the Nuggets when Malone had family matters to attend to. And of course, Adelman has stepped up when Malone had been tossed.
Before leading the Nuggets in totality, Adelman was focused on rotations and the Jokic-led offense, which has been one of the best while the coach has been on Malone’s bench. This pushed Adelman into being one of the hottest assistants on the market in recent years, getting interviews from teams across the NBA.
Adelman has been on NBA staffs since the 2011-12 season with stops in Minnesota and Orlando.
This story first appeared on DenverSports.com.
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