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Kenny 'The Jet' Smith reacts to UNC hiring Michael Malone as next head coach

ns_headshot_2024-clearby: Nick Schultz04/06/26NickSchultz_7

Throughout Michael Malone’s career in the NBA, Kenny “The Jet” Smith and the Inside The NBA crew broke down games he coached with the Sacramento Kings and Denver Nuggets. Now, Malone is getting ready to take over at North Carolina, and Smith reacted to his alma mater’s splash hire.

Malone hasn’t coached at the college level since 2001 when he was an assistant at Manhattan, but will now get ready to take over for Hubert Davis as head coach. But given his achievements in the NBA with the Nuggets, where he won an NBA title in 2023, Smith had high praise for UNC’s pending hire.

Smith called Malone’s hire “100% favorable” for North Carolina and said he was glad to see the Tar Heels didn’t have to bring in a coach from another program. He also pointed out the track record of development in Denver, notably with Nikola Jokic, who developed into an MVP under Malone’s watch.

“There’s four points I’d like to make on that,” Smith said ahead of the 2026 national championship. “I didn’t like the fact that we would’ve had to poach from someone else – I had actually expressed that. I didn’t feel that, ‘Oh, let’s go get this coach from somewhere else.’ The other thing is, Michael Malone’s daughter is a volleyball player at the University of North Carolina. When we were doing ESPN together in LA this year, he was walking around with a Tar Heels shirt on and I didn’t understand it. So he is a member of the Tar Heel family. He’s been drafted in by his daughter playing volleyball.

“The other part of it is, I just think that he’s a winner. Right away, he has a resume that no other person in college basketball has: he’s an NBA champion. And a reminder, he had the Joker [Jokic], who is the No. 1 player in basketball but was drafted 41. … He helped develop Joker into the Joker. Now, that is what’s big in college basketball, development, as well.”

Of course, Smith’s son Malloy committed to North Carolina while Davis was still in charge. Kenny Smith made it clear his son still plans to play for the Tar Heels under Malone with the goal of getting back to the national stage at the Final Four.

“I am excited for the Tar Heels,” Smith said. “My son’s gonna be there. We ain’t going nowhere. We’re trying to be back in here in sometime and be what we’re accustomed to as a Tar Heel.”