North Carolina landed a big fish from the NBA – just not the one everyone thought.

Michael Malone, the former NBA championship-winning coach of the Denver Nuggets, will be named the next head coach for North Carolina, according to multiple reports.

The shocking news comes as Tommy Lloyd apparently rebuffed advances from North Carolina and signed an extension with the Arizona Wildcats.

Many expected Bulls coach Billy Donovan, who won two national titles Florida, to be the favorite with Chicago in the middle of another lost season.

North Carolina fired Hubert Davis after they were shocked by VCU in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.

Malone has no prior connection to North Carolina, signaling a complete change in direction for the decorated program that almost exclusively has hired from with the Tar Heel family.

Davis had been a Tar Heel for four years, from 1988 to 1992, under legendary coach Dean Smith.

He was also an assistant under Roy Williams prior to taking over in 2022.

Donovan won back-to-back national titles in 2006 and 2007 with the Florida Gators before moving to the Oklahoma City Thunder and later the Bulls and was looking like an early favorite at multiple points this offseason.

UNC made the March Madness finals in his first year as coach but followed that up by missing the tournament altogether.

In total, Malone hopes to improve on a 101-45 record, which included just one season past the Sweet 16.

Malone previously worked as an assistant at Providence College and Oakland University and was the Director of Basketball Operations for Virginia earlier in his career.

Malone was fired by the Nuggets before the playoffs last season after a successful run in Denver.