Michael Malone Tattoo Artist Down to Cover Up Nuggets Championship Ink After Firing
April 9, 2025, 3:48 AM PDT — Mike Diaz, the tattoo artist who inked former Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone with a championship tribute in 2023, has offered to cover it up following Malone’s abrupt dismissal from the team. The gesture, reported by TMZ Sports late Tuesday, comes as Malone, 53, navigates the fallout of his unexpected exit after leading the Nuggets to their first NBA title two years ago—a triumph immortalized with a Maxie the Miner tattoo on his left shoulder.
Diaz, of Triple W Tattoos in Denver, etched the whimsical design—a grinning Maxie atop the Larry O’Brien Trophy—onto Malone in June 2023, days after the Nuggets’ Finals win over the Miami Heat. “It was a celebration of an amazing memory for him and this city,” Diaz told TMZ, recalling the post-championship buzz that also saw him tattoo identical pieces on Nuggets video coordinator Connor Griffin and assistant coach Ryan Bowen. But with Malone’s firing this week—confirmed Monday after a 14-11 start to the 2025-26 season—Diaz stands ready to rework the ink if Malone’s sentiment has soured. “If he really wanted to do that, I’d help out,” he said, though he hopes Malone keeps it as a badge of honor.
The Nuggets’ decision to axe Malone, who coached the team for a decade and earned a 503-372 record, stunned fans and players alike. A Sunday loss to the Dallas Mavericks (119-101) sealed his fate, with GM Calvin Booth citing “strategic differences” in a terse statement. Posts on X erupted with disbelief—“Firing Malone after one bad stretch? Insanity,” one user wrote—while others speculated the tattoo might now sting more than the loss. Diaz, however, hasn’t heard from Malone’s camp yet, leaving the cover-up offer as a hypothetical lifeline for a coach whose championship glow has dimmed.
Malone’s ink isn’t just a personal memento; it’s a snapshot of Denver’s hoops history. Diaz’s initial session with Malone, documented by Sportskeeda, drew a crowd of Nuggets staff eager to commemorate the title. Now, as Trump’s tariffs tank markets and mortgage rates climb (6.85% Tuesday, per Mortgage News Daily), the tattoo tale offers a quirky sidebar to broader chaos. Whether Malone opts to erase or reframe his Maxie remains his call—but Diaz’s needle is ready either way.
