David Adelman is entering his first full season as the Denver Nuggets' head coach after spending the past several years with the team on Michael Malone's staff. The Nuggets named Adelman the interim head coach at the end of the 2024-25 regular season, following their abrupt firing of Malone and GM Calvin Booth, which sent shockwaves throughout the NBA.
The majority believed that Denver would struggle with such a big change at that point in the season, but the opposite happened. The Nuggets won the last three regular-season games, beat the Clippers in the first round, and took the Thunder to Game 7 of the semifinals before their season ended.