Betting: NBA Play-In games | May 18

On Monday afternoon, Calvin Booth had “reached his breaking point” with Michael Malone. Sources tell The Athletic that the most important players on the Denver Nuggets, including Nikola Jokic, had “grown frustrated and fatigued by Malone’s fiery ways.”

Jokic’s patience with the Nuggets’ situation was beginning to wear thin in mid-March, according to sources with other teams.

According to league and team sources, Booth told people close to him that it was time for the Nuggets to fire Malone. Sources say Booth had considered firing Malone heading into their eventual championship in 2023. The Nuggets signed Malone to an extension a few months after that title and he had two years remaining on his contract at more than $10 million per season.

After trying to make the Booth-Malone relationship work, Josh Kroenke decided to fire both of them on Tuesday.

“The stuff off the court was even worse than the stuff on the court,” one Nuggets source said. “Everyone felt the weight of it.”

Sources say the Kroenkes were also influenced by the Memphis Grizzlies’ recent decision to fire their own head coach, Taylor Jenkins, ahead of the playoffs.

The Houston Rockets are arguably the NBA’s best positioned team to make a trade for a superstar because of both their future draft picks and their talented young core. Rafael Stone and the Rockets can trade up to four outright first round picks and four swaps.

“I just spent some time around the Rockets and I was told by more than one person, very firmly, very adamantly, they will not change the core of that team this season,” said Tim MacMahon on Wednesday’s Hoop Collective podcast. “Maybe they make a fringe rotation type of deal. But they are going to play the season out with the core of that team is what they are saying right now.”

Because Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun signed contract extensions before the start of the season, they are both functionally difficult to trade during the current season. While Tari Eason and Amen Thompson are not starters, the Rockets have been adamant in their messaging that both players are untouchable.

“Actions over words,” added MacMahon. “The action of signing him to that deal was also an indication that this was not a season they planned to make a massive trade.

“Now, we’ve talked about them trying to fast forward to phase three over the summer. If they could have gotten their hands on Donovan Mitchell, they would have absolutely pounced on that. He wasn’t available.

“If and when they cash some of these chips in to make a deal, one, I would be shocked if Thompson is traded. Eason is going to be awfully hard to get.”

The Rockets are one of the league’s best defensive teams, but they lack a true offensive star.

“If and when they cash these major chips in, they are going to be very selective of that. In other words, it has to be an age appropriate star. They realize to vault into real championship contenders, they have to have a guy either emerge or acquire a legitimate offensive engine. An outstanding offensive engine. They need to become a good offensive team, not a great because they are a great defensive team.

“They are not ruling out that Jalen Green could become that. I think they have some evidence that it’s possible from last season. They are not ruling out that Sengun could continue developing.”