NBA Insider Reveals Major Change in Nikola Jokić’s Behavior In The Locker Room Since Nuggets Fired Michael Malone

Is Nikola Jokić happy with the Denver Nuggets’ decision to fire Michael Malone towards the end of the 2024-2025 NBA season? Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania certainly thinks so and spoke on the subject when appearing on the Pat McAfee show.

This season has been nothing short of a roller coaster ride for the Nuggets. Things only got more dramatic towards the end as reports revealed that the franchise decided to part ways with Malone, even though he helped lead them to a championship less than two seasons ago.

While several narratives indicated that Malone was at odds with the roster stars, nothing concrete was ever offered to the public. Now that a significant amount of time has passed since the Nuggets fired Malone, more insight into Jokić’s true feelings has emerged.

Jokić Is More Vocal in the Nuggets’ Locker Room After Malone’s Exit
The dynamic between a coach and his team’s stars is very fluid and subjective, depending on the situation. Malone has always been known as a very vocal coach and likely tried to control the players more than Jokić preferred.

In the aftermath of Malone’s departure from the Nuggets, Charania revealed that Jokic is now much more vocal and taking on a leadership role.

“Nikola Jokić, the moment that the firing happened, we’ve seen….Even before then he was a little bit vocal but he has been unleashed and when I talk to people around Denver, they say Nikola Jokić is finally comfortable with the power, the influence, with who he is as a player….”

“It’s like, how can I influence my teammates? This is the first time we have seen in Nikola Jokić’s career that he goes about it every night and tries to influence how his teammates are behaving and how they’re playing.”

“When I talk to people around Denver they say Nikola Jokić is finally comfortable with the power and influence that he has..

He’s as vocal as we’ve ever witnessed in his career”@ShamsCharania #PMSLive pic.twitter.com/saBebQ3czn

— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) May 1, 2025

Charania revealed that Jokić has unquestionable faith in veteran teammates like Jamal Murray and that trying to influence Murray is unnecessary. His influence is more likely to be noticed with younger and inexperienced teammates than with the ones Jokić already won an NBA championship with.

It is certainly good to see that Jokić can express himself more freely under David Adelman. As things stand, the Nuggets hold a 3-2 lead on the Los Angeles Clippers.

If they can close out the Clippers within the next two games, Jokić and his squad will qualify for the Western Conference semi-finals and take on a well-rested OKC Thunder team. The Nuggets will need the most confident and dominant version of him in order to potentially get through the next two playoff series.