Michael Malone coached the Denver Nuggets to the NBA title in 2023. He has them set to make the postseason for a seventh consecutive year. Even amid a four-game slide, they’re still in position to have home-court advantage in Round 1.

And he’s gone with three games left — an unprecedented move for a club bound for the postseason.

The Nuggets fired Malone on Tuesday, a stunning move that comes with less than a week in the regular season. Also out: general manager Calvin Booth, whose contract will not be renewed. The Nuggets said David Adelman will be the coach for the rest of the season.

Josh Kroenke, the vice chairman of Kroenke Sports and Entertainment, which owns the Nuggets, said “it is with no pleasure” that the team made the change at coach.

“This decision was not made lightly and was evaluated very carefully, and we do it only with the intention of giving our group the best chance at competing for the 2025 NBA championship and delivering another title to Denver and our fans everywhere,” Kroenke said.

There’s never been an instance in NBA history of a team officially changing coaches with three games left and going to the postseason; the Nuggets aren’t in the playoffs yet but are assured of a play-in berth at worst. The latest in-season change for a playoff team before now was in 1983, when Larry Brown left the New Jersey Nets with six games left to take over at the University of Kansas.

The Nuggets are 47-32 this season but are part of a logjam of teams fighting for home-court advantage in Round 1 of the playoffs. Denver won the title in 2023 and lost a Game 7 at home in the Western Conference semifinals a year ago to Minnesota.

Malone pointed the finger at himself after the most recent loss, a 125-120 defeat to Indiana on Sunday.

“I’ll start with me: We’ve lost four games in a row and I’m never going to this-guy, that-guy. How about me, as a head coach, not doing my job to the best of my ability?” Malone said. “We haven’t lost four in a row in a long time. It’s really easy to be together and say ‘family’ when you win, but when you’re losing games, can you stay together?”

The slide comes despite Nuggets star Nikola Jokic — a winner of three of the last four NBA MVP awards — having a historic season, averaging 30 points, 12.8 rebounds and 10.2 assists per game. But even that wasn’t good enough for Denver to enter the final week of the season certain of having home court in Round 1.

Malone had the fourth-longest tenure of any active NBA coach, behind San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, Miami’s Erik Spoelstra and Golden State’s Steve Kerr.

Malone won 471 regular-season games in Denver, 39 more than Doug Moe for the franchise’s all-time coaching lead.

In games Monday ...

Grizzlies 124, Hornets 100 >> Ja Morant had 28 points, 5 rebounds and 8 assists as Memphis won in Charlotte, N.C. Memphis guard Jaylen Wells was taken from the court on a stretcher and transported to a hospital after he made a fast-break dunk and landed hard on his head following a midair collision with Charlotte’s K.J. Simpson. Wells, who was starting his 74th game, was inadvertently undercut by Simpson from behind. Officials called a Flagrant 2 foul on Simpson, who was automatically ejected. Desmond Bane scored 19 points, Zach Edey had 17 points and 19 rebounds and Jaren Jackson Jr. 14 points for Memphis, which kept pace in the Western Conference race.

Cavaliers 135, Bulls 113 >> Darius Garland scored 28 points, Evan Mobley had 21 points, 11 rebounds and 7 assists and the Cavaliers clinched the top seed in the Eastern Conference in Cleveland. Ty Jerome added 18 points off the bench and De’Andre Hunter scored 17 for Cleveland, which has the second-best record in franchise history at 63-16.

Celtics 119, Knicks 117 (OT) >> Kristaps Porzingis made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 40 seconds left in overtime after Jayson Tatum’s 3-pointer with 2.9 seconds remaining forced the extra period as Boston completed a season sweep of New York. Porzingis matched his season high with 34 points on his 30-footer. Tatum added 32 points as the Celtics extended their road win streak to eight.

Magic 119, Hawks 112 >> Paolo Banchero had 33 points and 10 rebounds and the host Magic took command of the four-team play-in tournament race in the Eastern Conference.

Pacers 104, Wizards 98 >> Pascal Siakam scored 24 points and had 10 rebounds, Tyrese Haliburton had 22 points and host Indiana won its fifth straight game.

Nets 119, Pelicans 114 >> Trendon Watford scored 22 points, Drew Timme had 16 points and nine rebounds off the bench and Brooklyn snapped a five-game home losing streak.