Every player was there except veteran guard Russell Westbrook, who had flown to Los Angeles where his family lives, multiple sources said. Players and assistant coaches made their way to Ball Arena’s practice court at 10:30 a.m. local time. At that point, unbeknownst to everyone but superstar center Nikola Jokic, who had a brief one-on-one discussion with Kroenke beforehand, Malone was packing some of his belongings in his office after being informed that his decade-long tenure in Denver was done. “He told me, ‘We made a decision.’ So it was not a discussion. It was a decision,” Jokic said Wednesday night. “He told me why. And so I listened. And I accepted it.” Instead of working out, the rest of the players were called to an 11 a.m. meeting with Kroenke, where they learned that the only coach many of them had ever played for had just been fired. “It’s just so disrespectful,” one source close to the situation said. “That’s not how you treat a championship coach.” -via ESPN / April 11, 2025
