Michael Malone has a surprising latest option to remember the championship he just won.
The Denver Nuggets head coach got himself a flashy tattoo this week to commemorate his team’s run in the 2023 NBA Finals.
A tattoo, Malone’s second ever, in keeping with TMZ, is greater than a little weird – it features one among the first Nuggets mascots, Maxie the Miner, holding Larry O’Brien’s trophy.
Malone, 51, heard about tattoo artist Mike Diaz because he was offering $52.80 Nuggets tattoos when the team was in the playoffs to honor the city’s mile-high elevation and capitalize on the undisguised excitement of the Denver Nuggets, who won the first on the town – ever an NBA title.
The top coach shouldn’t be the only Nugget to get tattooed.
Assistant coach Ryan Bowen can also be set to get a tattoo from Diaz this week, and assistant video coordinator Ryan Griffin got the same painting as Malone.
Maxie the Miner has been Denver’s mascot and logo since 1974, when the team was still in the ABA.
The miner is meant to honor prospectors who got here to Colorado in hopes of getting wealthy, and was retired in 1981.
Malone took over as head coach of the Nuggets in 2015 and has since led the team to winning seasons in all but two years.
The top coach ruffled some feathers after winning the championship, benefiting from LeBron James’s earlier retirement suggestions after the Nuggets defeated the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.
“Speaking of the Lakers, I just want you to know – that is breaking news – I’m pondering of retiring so don’t tell anyone” Malone he jokingly said last week on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
James replied on Instagram saying “Being in Europe for the previous couple of weeks minding my very own business and I hear you concentrate on me a lot huh???”