“What do you mean, ‘rivalry week?’ Is that what this is?” he asked before the Philadelphia game, before offering a sarcastic quote: “Really stoked.” Malone went on to say he has never viewed any opponent as a rival during his Nuggets tenure, including the Sixers and the Wolves. “It’s so hard because the landscape of the NBA has changed,” he said. “Players change so often. Teams change. The dynamics of the Western Conference change. So you have teams in your division, like Minnesota. We’ve played them, obviously, two years in a row in the playoffs. Would I call that a rivalry? I don’t know if I’m there yet.”