{"id":63387,"date":"2026-08-10T00:48:52","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T00:48:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/63387\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T00:48:52","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T00:48:52","slug":"former-dallas-mavericks-head-coach-don-nelson-dies-at-86","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/63387\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Dallas Mavericks head coach Don Nelson dies at 86"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Chuck<\/p>\n

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)<\/p>\n

Kyle Phillips\/AP<\/p>\n

Don Nelson, the NBA\u2019s second-winningest coach and one of the most transformative figures in Dallas Mavericks history, died Sunday in Frisco, his family confirmed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

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\u00a0NBA friends. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Among his bedside visitors Saturday, which included a prayer vigil, were former Mavericks standout Michael\u00a0Finley and Nelson\u2019s longtime assistant coach Del Harris.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Those same people were among several hundred friends and admirers who on June 15 gathered at Gilley\u2019s in Dallas, where Nelson received the James Naismith Family Legacy Award during a Sports Power Brokers event.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel great,\u201d a beaming Nelson said that night. \u201cI feel like I\u2019m the luckiest guy in the room. I\u2019ve had a life in which I coached and played and general managed in the league for almost 50 years. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s good to be back in Texas,\u201d added Nelson, who coached the Mavericks from 1997 to 2005<\/a>. \u201cI moved back here about six months ago and I\u2019m having the time of my life.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNellie\u201d aptly received a standing ovation after rising to the dais to accept the award from Naismith\u2019s great-granddaughter, Margaret Naismith Yonker.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cToday,\u201d Nelson said, again smiling, \u201cI feel a lot of love in this room.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Nelson stood 6-foot-6, but few if any figures in basketball history built a more varied, towering legacy than Nelson\u00a0\u2014 as a player, general manager and coach.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNellie \u2026 You didn\u2019t just draft me,\u201d\u00a0Nowitzki tweeted Sunday. \u201cYou believed in me. You saw things in my game before I ever realized I could do them.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said it a million times and I will always say it: I don\u2019t 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.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Dallas Mavericks head coach Don Nelson protests a third-quarter call in Game 3 of the Western Conference quarterfinals between the Mavericks and\u00a0Sacramento Kings at American Airlines Center on April 24, 2004.<\/p>\n

Brad Loper\/File photo\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

It 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\u2019s worst team of the 1990s.<\/p>\n

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Ten 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon came in and was a proven legendary player and legendary coach, and he brought a lot of credibility to the team,\u201d Perot recalled to The News on Sunday. \u201cDon did a lot for the Mavericks, but for the history of the Mavericks, it was Don and Donnie who brought Dirk to the team.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Quite a lasting legacy, indeed, among many other moments and accomplishments spanning five decades. \u00a0<\/p>\n

His 2,398 games coached are second-most in NBA history, behind Lenny Wilkens\u2019 2,487. Nelson\u2019s 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. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Nelson was voted NBA Coach of the Year in 1982-83 and 1984-85 (Milwaukee) and 1991-92 (Golden State). \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2012<\/a>. During the NBA\u2019s 75th anniversary season of 2021-22, Nelson was named one of the 15 greatest coaches in league history.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As a player with the Boston Celtics, he won NBA championships in 1966, 1968, 1969, 1974 and 1976. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Don\u2019s 339 coaching wins in Dallas are second-most in Mavericks history behind Rick Carlisle\u2019s 555.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Dallas Mavericks head coach Don Nelson, center, presents first-round draft choice Dirk\u00a0Nowitzki, left, and newly acquired guard Steve Nash with jerseys at a news conference on June 29, 1998 in Dallas.<\/p>\n

Huy Nguyen\/File photo\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n

\u201cDon Nelson was a true original whose impact on the Dallas Mavericks and the game of basketball will endure for generations,\u201d Mavericks governor Patrick Dumont said in a statement Sunday. \u201cNellie 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\u00a0NBA today.\u201d<\/p>\n

NBA commissioner Adam Silver in a statement noted Nelson\u2019s \u201cunmistakable personality\u201d and pioneering coaching career that will be felt for generations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cDon Nelson revolutionized NBA basketball through his fearlessness, ingenuity and deep conviction,\u201d Silver said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Donald Arvid Nelson was born May 15, 1940, in\u00a0Muskegon, Mich., and grew up in humble circumstances in Rock Island, Ill., attending grade school barefoot, he told The News in the late 1990s.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Coincidentally, the Mavericks\u2019 birth date also was May 15 \u2014 of 1980, the day Dallas was formally granted an NBA franchise.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearly 17 years later, when Zaccenelli flew to Maui to visit Don and wife Joy and to recruit Nellie to Dallas, the franchise hadn\u2019t won a playoff game since 1988.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe says, \u2018Meet me at the golf course,\u2019 Zaccanelli recalled Sunday. \u2018So I meet him at the golf course, we\u2019re on the fourth tee box and he\u2019s down three holes to me, and he turns and says, \u2018You know what? Your team really stinks.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI said, \u2018I flew all the way to Maui to have you tell me something I already know? What the hell do you think I\u2019m doing here?\u2019 \u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On that draft night of June 24, 1998, Nelson acquired a second Naismith Hall of Famer to\u00a0be, point guard Steve Nash<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Perot on Sunday recalled the lead-up to the draft, when Donnie saw 19-year-old Nowitzki practicing with Germany\u2019s team in Dallas prior to 1998 Nike Hoop Summit in San Antonio. Donnie summoned Don, who after watching Nowitzki for a few minutes ordered, \u201cLock the building!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Draft night brought tense moments because Don correctly gambled that Nowitzki would not be chosen among the top eight players. The Mavericks chose Robert \u201cTractor\u201d Traylor at No. 6, with plans to trade him to Milwaukee for the No. 9 pick, Nowitzki.\u00a0<\/p>\n

What Don and Donnie had not anticipated, though, was another player Dallas liked, Paul Pierce, also not being taken among the top eight picks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like, \u2018Oh my God, we didn\u2019t think we could get Paul Pierce,\u2019 \u201d Perot recalled. \u201cAnd I said, \u2018Look, all we\u2019ve been talking about is Dirk. Don, what\u2019s the best long-term solution for the Mavericks? \u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe said, \u2018Ross, if you want to do the right thing, it\u2019s Dirk. But the fanbase is going to kill us because no one knows Dirk and they all know Paul Pierce.\u2019 And I said, \u2018What else can we do to get the fans upset? We\u2019re already at the bottom. Let\u2019s do the right thing for the franchise.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Nearly three decades later, Perot marveled at Nelson\u2019s conviction in those tense moments.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot many general managers or owners would draft Dirk over Paul Pierce,\u201d he said. A year later, the Mavericks made Wang\u00a0Zhizhi the first Chinese-born player drafted into the NBA.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you know, conventional wisdom was not part of the makeup of Don Nelson,\u201d Perot said, \u201cYou talk about people that think outside the box: Don Nelson was never in the box.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Naturally, among the attendees of the Sports Power Brokers event in June at\u00a0Gilley\u2019s was Nowitzki, who recalled having little confidence that he would succeed in the NBA until Nelson instilled it in him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHis way of seeing basketball, with the whole mismatch and shooting, just played into my hands,\u201d Nowitzki said. \u201cNellie was just the perfect coach for me, to start my career here.\u201d \u00a0<\/p>\n

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.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not good at long speeches,\u201d he said on stage, \u201cso I\u2019ll be brief and just say \u2018Thank you so much.\u2019\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like my dear friend Bill Walton said many times: I feel I\u2019m the luckiest guy in the world. So thank you for the love. Thanks for coming. And let\u2019s all have a good time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Don Nelson speaks during a press conference before Game 2 of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[471,8,9,7,33184],"class_list":["post-63387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-top-stories","tag-article","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-tp-obituaries"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/117068468299377638","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}