Michael Malone is our headliner for most games coached and spent a decade with the Denver Nuggets.
The Nuggets won their first and only NBA title in the 2022-23 season under the tutelage of Michael Malone. Even though that grants Malone an important status in the organization’s history, he’s not the only coach with an impressive tenure in Mile High City. Here are the Top 5 coaches in the Nuggets’ history.
Michael Malone, 798 games (2015-2025)
Malone not only holds the distinction of being the only Nuggets head coach who has won the NBA title, but he’s also the one with the most games coached. He went 471-327 during his 10-year tenure, good for a .590 winning percentage that ranks fifth in franchise history and third among head coaches with at least 300 games. Malone also led the Nuggets to the postseason six times and coached 80 playoff games, going 44-36 and winning the NBA title in 2022-23 after defeating the Miami Heat in the 2023 NBA Finals.
Doug Moe, 789 games (1981-1990)
Moe held the record for being the Nuggets’ head coach with the most regular-season games until Malone surpassed him late in the 2024-25 regular season. Moe led the Nuggets between the 1981-82 and 1989-90 seasons, going 432-357, good for a .548 winning percentage. He led the Nuggets to the postseason in all but one of his campaigns in charge, although he only went 24-37, good for a .393 winning percentage. Moe’s final season in the NBA as a head coach came in the 1992-93 season, when he posted a 19-37 record across 56 games with the Philadelphia 76ers.
George Karl, 680 games (2005-2013)
Karl coached the Nuggets for nine years between the 2004-05 and 2012-13 seasons, amassing a 423-257 record and a .622 winning percentage. That winning percentage is the second-highest in franchise history among head coaches with at least 300 games. He took over the head coach role at Denver midway through the 2004-05 season and posted an impressive 32-8 record across 40 games, which landed him the gig permanently until the end of the 2012-13 season. Karl also led the Nuggets to the playoffs nine times, but he compiled a 21-38 postseason record.
Dan Issel, 388 games (1992-2002)
Issel coached the Nuggets in six seasons, but he did so in two separate three-year stints. The first came between the 1992-93 and 1994-95 seasons, and the second one was between the 1999-2000 and 2001-02 campaigns. Altogether, Issel went 180-208, good for a .464 winning percentage. He led the Nuggets to the playoffs once during his two stints with the organization. It happened in the 1993-94 season, when Denver lost in the Western Conference Semifinals against the Seattle SuperSonics. Issel went 6-6 with Denver in that playoff run.
Larry Brown, 385 games (1974-1979)
Brown coached the Nuggets in the team’s final two years in the ABA and later did the same in the franchise’s first three years in the NBA after the merger. He posted a 251-134 record over his 385 games, and that .652 winning percentage is the highest in franchise history — it’s only bested by Rick Adelman’s three-game tenure (3-0) at the end of the 2024-25 regular season. Brown also led Denver to the postseason in four of his five seasons at the helm, going a combined 21-24 in postseason play.
