Popeye, Nuggets wins 2023 NBA Title
MBB: Jones' 13th-seasons as an NBA assistant yields him his first championship
The Denver Nuggets beat the Miami Heat, 94-89, on Monday night to win the 2023 NBA Finals in five games. It’s the first NBA championship in franchise history for the Nuggets.
Murray State legend Popeye Jones, who has been an assistant with the Nuggets for the last two seasons, also earned his first NBA title after more than 25 years in the league as a player and coach.
After Houston selected him in the second round of the 1992 NBA Draft, Jones played for 11 years in the NBA for six different teams. After a three-year run as a player development coach in Dallas, Jones has spent the last 13 seasons as an assistant coach with four different franchises. His time in Denver has now earned him the game’s biggest prize.
Jones is the third former Murray State player to win an NBA title, but the first as a coach. Dick Cunningham won a title with Milwaukee in 1971, and Joe Fulks won a 1947 BAA (the precursor to the NBA) championship with the Philadelphia Warriors.