David Adelman promoted to full-time Nuggets coach after leading team to conference semifinals

DENVER (AP) — Josh Kroenke didn't need to look far to find the next head coach of the Denver Nuggets. All he had to do was take a short stroll from his office.

The team's president and governor took the interim tag off David Adelman on Thursday, rewarding the 44-year-old hoops lifer for righting the discombobulated Nuggets on short notice and leading them to a Game 7 against the top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the playoffs.

Adelman replaced Michael Malone last month and led the Nuggets to wins in their last three regular-season games to avoid the NBA's play-in, dispatched the Clippers in seven games and took the West's top seed to the brink before losing 125-93 on Sunday in Oklahoma City.

Kroenke said he needs more time to decide on a new general manager, but he wanted to name Adelman his head coach now so the organization could gear toward a return to the NBA pinnacle to capitalize on the prime years of superstar Nikola Jokic.

Kroenke stunned the league last month when he fired the winningest coach in franchise history along with general manager Calvin Booth, who connected the final pieces of the team's only championship puzzle two years ago. Ben Tenzer has been serving as interim GM.

Malone and Booth had a long-running feud and Kroenke at that time said fresh faces — he also promoted Ben Tenzer to interim GM — gave the team its best chance to make a deep playoff run.

“I think that there was perhaps some confusion and some doubt over the decision-making, especially the timing of it, which I completely understand,” Kroenke said. "But I am very proud of the way the group came together under some very difficult circumstances and I am proud to say I thought we squeezed a little bit more out of the season than the direction we were heading six weeks ago.”

Kroenke added, however, any season during this Jokic era that doesn't end with a parade is unacceptable.

Although Adelman didn’t really have enough time to install his philosophies or make many lineup changes, Kroenke said he appreciated the fresh voice and perspective he brought to the job and trusts he'll build on that foundation now.

Kroenke said there wasn't one particular moment when he realized Adelman deserved the full-time job but rather it was an atmosphere of accountability and open communication that swayed him from opening up a search.

Adelman served as Malone's top assistant for eight seasons and was widely seen across the league as an up-and-comer in the head-coaching ranks.

“Part of the thinking of making the change when we made it was to give David a chance,” Kroenke said. "He’s grown with the group and he understands their tendencies as players. I think equally important right now ... is he knows them as people, what makes them tick.

“And I think bringing in somebody from the outside — while I was very open-minded to it initially — I saw the cohesiveness of the relationships on the human side. I think that’s a big factor in where we’re heading with this group now and getting the most out of them.”

Jokic said it was above his paygrade when asked to weigh in on the coaching situation when the Nuggets were eliminated last weekend, but on Thursday, Kroenke retorted, “Considering what ‘Yoke’ makes, it’s not above his paygrade.”

Jokic made $51,415,938 last season.

After their season ended, Jokic lamented the Nuggets' lack of depth and noted that the teams still alive have deep benches that keep the starters fresh.

Denver has blown double-digit leads in Game 7 of the semifinals two years in a row as their exhausted starters faded.

“I heard Jokic's comments loud and clear,” Kroenke said. “I think I was thinking that before I heard those words come out of his mouth. ... We lean on a lot of guys for a lot of minutes in big-time moments and that has a cumulative effect. When you're playing seven-game series that can wear you down.”

The Nuggets don't have a pick in the upcoming NBA draft, so extending their rotation will be a challenge without breaking up the core of Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon, Michael Porter Jr. and Christian Braun. Barring free agent bargains or trades, they may have to rely on summertime strides from young players Julian Strawther, Peyton Watson, Jalen Pickett and DaRon Holmes II, last year's first-round selection who tore an Achilles tendon in his NBA Summer League debut.

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Denver Nuggets interim head coach David Adelman, center, argues for a call with referee Tyler Ford, left, as Nuggets trainer Dan Shimensky, right, comes over to stop him in the first half of Game 4 in the Western Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Sunday, May 11, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Nuggets interim head coach David Adelman, left, confers with guard Jamal Murray as he sits on the scorer's table during a break in play in the first half of Game 6 in the Western Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Nuggets interim head coach David Adelman directs his team against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second half of Game 6 in the Western Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Denver Nuggets head coach David Adelman walks along the bench area late in the second half of Game 5 of an NBA basketball second-round playoff series against the Oklahoma City Thunder Tuesday, May 13, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Thursday ruled that the Defense Department is violating his earlier order to restore access to the Pentagon for reporters.

U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman sided with The New York Times earlier this month in deciding that the Pentagon’s new credential policy violated journalists’ constitutional rights to free speech and due process. He sided again with the Times in saying that the Pentagon had tried to evade his ruling by putting in new rules that expel all reporters from the building unless guided by escorts.

“The department simply cannot reinstate an unlawful policy under the guise of taking ‘new’ action and expect the court to look the other way,” Friedman wrote.

Friedman had ordered Pentagon officials to reinstate the press credentials of seven Times reporters and stressed that his decision applies to “all regulated parties.”

Pentagon officials didn’t immediately respond to an email seeking comment. The Pentagon building serves as the headquarters for U.S. military operations.

In October, reporters from mainstream news outlets walked out of the building rather than agree to the new rules. The Times sued the Pentagon and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth in December to challenge the policy.

Times attorneys accused the Pentagon of violating the judge’s March 20 order, “both in letter and spirit” with its revised policy. The newspaper said that Pentagon was also trying to impose unprecedented rules dictating when reporters can offer anonymity to sources.

Friedman said that the access the Pentagon made available to permit holders “is not even close to as meaningful as the broad access” they previously had.

Government lawyers said the Pentagon’s revised policy fully complies with the judge’s directives. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell has said the administration would appeal Friedman’s March 20 decision.

The Pentagon Press Association, which includes AP reporters, said the Pentagon’s interim policy preserves provisions that Friedman deemed to be unconstitutional while also adding new restrictions on credential holders.

“In effect, Plaintiffs ask this Court to expand the Order to prohibit the Department from ever addressing the security of the Pentagon through a press credentialing policy with conditions that may address similar topics or concerns as the enjoined conditions. The Order does not say that, and this Court should not read it to say that,” Justice Department attorneys wrote.

The current Pentagon press corps is comprised mostly of conservative outlets that agreed to the policy. Journalists from outlets that refused to consent to the new rules, including from The Associated Press, have continued reporting on the military from outside the Pentagon.

Friedman, who was nominated to the bench by Democratic President Bill Clinton, said recent U.S. military operations in Venezuela and Iran underscore the need for public access to information about government activities.

“Those who drafted the First Amendment believed that the nation’s security requires a free press and an informed people and that such security is endangered by governmental suppression of political speech. That principle has preserved the nation’s security for almost 250 years. It must not be abandoned now,” the judge wrote.

Friedman said the challenged policy is clearly designed to weed out “disfavored journalists” and replace them with those who are “on board and willing to serve” the administration.

“That," he wrote, “is viewpoint discrimination, full stop.”

The Pentagon is seen from an airplane, Tuesday, April 7, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)