David Adelman is officially the head coach of the Denver Nuggets, the team announced on Thursday.
The Nuggets removed the interim tag on Adelman, 44, and rewarded him with the full-time job after taking over for the team with three games left in the regular season. Adelman then guided Denver to the second round of the Western Conference playoffs before falling in Game 7 to the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder.
Adelman assumed the interim role after the Nuggets fired head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth late in the regular season. Ben Tenzer is the interim general manager.
Denver players provided strong endorsements for Adelman after their season came to an end, with forward Aaron Gordon saying Adelman proved “excellent for us,” adding that he hoped the coach would remain in place for next season. Similarly, All-Star center Nikola Jokic noted that Adelman “made us believe something, and we played good.”
The son of former NBA coach Rick Adelman, David has been around the game his entire life. After coaching high school in the Portland, Oregon, area from 2002 to 2011, Adelman joined the Minnesota Timberwolves as a player development coach under his father in 2011, where he stayed for five years. He was an assistant coach from 2012-16.
From there, Adelman served as an assistant with the Orlando Magic in 2016-17 before moving on to the Nuggets as an assistant in 2017.
