Michael Malone has a new, startling way to remember the championship he just won.
The Denver Nuggets head coach got inked with a striking tattoo this week to commemorate his team’s 2023 NBA Finals run.
The tattoo, Malone’s second-ever, per TMZ, is more than a little odd — it depicts the one of the Nuggets’ first mascots, Maxie the Miner, holding the Larry O’Brien trophy.
Malone, 51, heard about the tattoo artist, Mike Diaz, because he was offering $52.80 Nuggets tattoos while the team was in the playoffs to honor the city’s mile-high elevation and capitalize on Denver’s unabashed excitement for the Nuggets, who won the city’s first-ever NBA title.
The head coach isn’t the only Nugget who’s getting inked up.
Assistant coach Ryan Bowen is also slated to get a tattoo from Diaz this week, and assistant video coordinator Ryan Griffin got the same image as Malone.
Maxie the Miner became Denver’s mascot and logo starting in 1974, when the team was still in the ABA.
The miner is supposed to honor the prospectors who came to Colorado in hopes of striking it rich, and it was phased out in 1981.
Malone took over as head coach of the Nuggets in 2015, and he has led the team to winning seasons in all but two years since.
The head coach ruffled some feathers after winning the championship, taking a swipe at LeBron James’ previous hints at retiring after the Nuggets beat the Lakers in the Western Conference finals.
“Speaking of the Lakers, I just want you guys to know — this is breaking news — I’m thinking about retiring so don’t tell anybody,” Malone said jokingly last week on “The Pat McAfee Show.”
James responded on Instagram by saying, “In Europe for the last past few weeks minding my business and I hear I’m on your mind that much huh???”
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