Dallas Mavericks assistant Jared Dudley is finalizing a deal to become the top assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets under David Adelman, Andy Miller of Klutch Sports told ESPN.
Dudley has been on the Mavs’ staff since 2021 after a 14-year NBA career. He joins fellow longtime NBA player J.J. Barea on the front of the Nuggets’ bench.
The Mavericks and head coach Jason Kidd have now lost three key assistants — Dudley, Sean Sweeney (San Antonio Spurs) and God Shammgod (Orlando Magic) — to elevated roles with other teams.
The Mavericks are, however, finalizing a deal to hire Frank Vogel as the lead assistant coach under Kidd, sources told ESPN.
Dudley, 39, a first-round pick of the Charlotte Bobcats in 2007, played 14 years in the NBA and averaged 7.3 points and 3.2 rebounds in 904 games.
He interviewed for the Phoenix Suns’ head coaching vacancy this offseason, a job that went to Jordan Ott.
The Nuggets hired Adelman as their full-time coach in May. He replaced the fired Michael Malone as interim coach and led the Nuggets to wins in their last three regular-season games to avoid the NBA’s play-in, dispatched the LA Clippers in seven games and took the eventual-champion Oklahoma City Thunder to the brink before losing in seven games in the second round.
The Nuggets also revamped their front office, moving to a co-partnership approach between executive vice presidents Ben Tenzer and Jonathan Wallace after letting general manager Calvin Booth go with three days left in the season along with Malone. Tenzer, who was the Nuggets’ interim GM after the change, is the executive VP of basketball operations and Wallace the executive VP of player personnel.
The Nuggets have been busy in free agency, trading for forward Cameron Johnson and center Jonas Valanciunas and reaching agreement on deals with Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
