Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Don Nelson speaks during a press conference before Game 2 of the NBA Finals basketball series against the Oklahoma City Thunder Sunday, June 8, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Kyle Phillips)Kyle Phillips/APDon Nelson, the NBA’s second-winningest coach and one of the most transformative figures in Dallas Mavericks history, died Sunday in Frisco, his family confirmed. Nelson, 86, moved from his longtime home in Maui to Frisco early this year, but suffered a stroke about three weeks ago. In recent days he had been in hospice care and was surrounded by family and longtime NBA friends. Among his bedside visitors Saturday, which included a prayer vigil, were former Mavericks standout Michael Finley and Nelson’s longtime assistant coach Del Harris. Article continues below this adThose same people were among several hundred friends and admirers who on June 15 gathered at Gilley’s in Dallas, where Nelson received the James Naismith Family Legacy Award during a Sports Power Brokers event. “I feel great,” a beaming Nelson said that night. “I feel like I’m the luckiest guy in the room. I’ve had a life in which I coached and played and general managed in the league for almost 50 years. “It’s good to be back in Texas,” added Nelson, who coached the Mavericks from 1997 to 2005. “I moved back here about six months ago and I’m having the time of my life.” “Nellie” aptly received a standing ovation after rising to the dais to accept the award from Naismith’s great-granddaughter, Margaret Naismith Yonker. “Today,” Nelson said, again smiling, “I feel a lot of love in this room.”Article continues below this adNelson stood 6-foot-6, but few if any figures in basketball history built a more varied, towering legacy than Nelson — as a player, general manager and coach. In Dallas, he will in perpetuity be known as the general manager who acquired franchise icon Dirk Nowitzki as the ninth pick of the NBA Draft on June 24, 1998. “Nellie … You didn’t just draft me,” Nowitzki tweeted Sunday. “You believed in me. You saw things in my game before I ever realized I could do them. “I’ve said it a million times and I will always say it: I don’t think my career could have turned out how it did without you being my first coach and giving me the freedom to play my game. I can only say THANK YOU. For everything. RIP legend.” Former Dallas Mavericks head coach Don Nelson protests a third-quarter call in Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals between the Mavericks and Sacramento Kings at American Airlines Center on April 24, 2004.Brad Loper/File photo/The Dallas Morning NewsIt was on February 7, 1997, that Mavericks majority owner Ross Perot Jr. and minority owner Frank Zaccanelli wooed Nelson from an 11-month retirement to take over basketball operations for the NBA’s worst team of the 1990s.Article continues below this adTen months into his tenure as GM, Nelson fired coach Jim Cleamons and took over as coach, soon after bringing in from Phoenix his son Donnie to be one of his assistants.“Don came in and was a proven legendary player and legendary coach, and he brought a lot of credibility to the team,” Perot recalled to The News on Sunday. “Don did a lot for the Mavericks, but for the history of the Mavericks, it was Don and Donnie who brought Dirk to the team.” Quite a lasting legacy, indeed, among many other moments and accomplishments spanning five decades. His 2,398 games coached are second-most in NBA history, behind Lenny Wilkens’ 2,487. Nelson’s 1,335 victories are second-most in history, behind the 1,390 wins of his former assistant and most noted protege, longtime Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. Nelson was voted NBA Coach of the Year in 1982-83 and 1984-85 (Milwaukee) and 1991-92 (Golden State). Article continues below this adHe was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2012. During the NBA’s 75th anniversary season of 2021-22, Nelson was named one of the 15 greatest coaches in league history. As a player with the Boston Celtics, he won NBA championships in 1966, 1968, 1969, 1974 and 1976. In Game 7 of the 1969 NBA Finals, he hit one of the most famous shots in playoff history, with the Celtics clinging to a one-point lead and his free-throw-line jumper bouncing high off the back of the rim and through the hoop. His 32-season coaching career spanned on-and-off from 1976 to 2010, with stops in Milwaukee, Golden State (twice), the Knicks and Dallas, the latter of which he served as general manager and coach from 1997 to 2005, when Donnie succeeded him as GM and Avery Johnson took over as coach. Don’s 339 coaching wins in Dallas are second-most in Mavericks history behind Rick Carlisle’s 555. Article continues below this adFormer Dallas Mavericks head coach Don Nelson, center, presents first-round draft choice Dirk Nowitzki, left, and newly acquired guard Steve Nash with jerseys at a news conference on June 29, 1998 in Dallas.Huy Nguyen/File photo/The Dallas Morning News“Don Nelson was a true original whose impact on the Dallas Mavericks and the game of basketball will endure for generations,” Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont said in a statement Sunday. “Nellie helped transform this franchise, bringing an innovative spirit, a belief in doing things differently and, most importantly, a winning culture to Dallas. His influence can be seen throughout Mavericks history and across the NBA today.”NBA commissioner Adam Silver in a statement noted Nelson’s “unmistakable personality” and pioneering coaching career that will be felt for generations. “Don Nelson revolutionized NBA basketball through his fearlessness, ingenuity and deep conviction,” Silver said. Donald Arvid Nelson was born May 15, 1940, in Muskegon, Mich., and grew up in humble circumstances in Rock Island, Ill., attending grade school barefoot, he told The News in the late 1990s. Article continues below this adCoincidentally, the Mavericks’ birth date also was May 15 — of 1980, the day Dallas was formally granted an NBA franchise. Nearly 17 years later, when Zaccenelli flew to Maui to visit Don and wife Joy and to recruit Nellie to Dallas, the franchise hadn’t won a playoff game since 1988. “He says, ‘Meet me at the golf course,’ Zaccanelli recalled Sunday. ‘So I meet him at the golf course, we’re on the fourth tee box and he’s down three holes to me, and he turns and says, ‘You know what? Your team really stinks.’ “I said, ‘I flew all the way to Maui to have you tell me something I already know? What the hell do you think I’m doing here?’ ” What was supposed to be a one-day visit became four. Zaccanelli returned to Dallas and a day later came Don and Joy, bags packed for what became a transformative time in franchise history. On that draft night of June 24, 1998, Nelson acquired a second Naismith Hall of Famer to be, point guard Steve Nash.Perot on Sunday recalled the lead-up to the draft, when Donnie saw 19-year-old Nowitzki practicing with Germany’s team in Dallas prior to 1998 Nike Hoop Summit in San Antonio. Donnie summoned Don, who after watching Nowitzki for a few minutes ordered, “Lock the building!” Draft night brought tense moments because Don correctly gambled that Nowitzki would not be chosen among the top eight players. The Mavericks chose Robert “Tractor” Traylor at No. 6, with plans to trade him to Milwaukee for the No. 9 pick, Nowitzki. What Don and Donnie had not anticipated, though, was another player Dallas liked, Paul Pierce, also not being taken among the top eight picks.“It’s like, ‘Oh my God, we didn’t think we could get Paul Pierce,’ ” Perot recalled. “And I said, ‘Look, all we’ve been talking about is Dirk. Don, what’s the best long-term solution for the Mavericks? ’ “He said, ‘Ross, if you want to do the right thing, it’s Dirk. But the fanbase is going to kill us because no one knows Dirk and they all know Paul Pierce.’ And I said, ‘What else can we do to get the fans upset? We’re already at the bottom. Let’s do the right thing for the franchise.” Nearly three decades later, Perot marveled at Nelson’s conviction in those tense moments. “Not many general managers or owners to draft Dirk over Paul Pierce,” he said. A year later, the Mavericks made Wang Zhizhi the first Chinese-born player drafted into the NBA. “As you know, conventional wisdom was not part of the makeup of Don Nelson,” Perot said, “You talk about people that think outside the box: Don Nelson was never in the box.” Naturally, among the attendees of the Sports Power Brokers event in June at Gilley’s was Nowitzki, who recalled having little confidence that he would succeed in the NBA until Nelson instilled it in him. “His way of seeing basketball, with the whole mismatch and shooting, just played into my hands,” Nowitzki said. “Nellie was just the perfect coach for me, to start my career here.” Despite his age, seeing Nelson that night, looking strong and fit and happy, no one would have suspected it would be his public farewell in Dallas. “I’m not good at long speeches,” he said on stage, “so I’ll be brief and just say ‘Thank you so much.’ “I feel like my dear friend Bill Walton said many times: I feel I’m the luckiest guy in the world. So thank you for the love. Thanks for coming. And let’s all have a good time.”
