Don Nelson, one of the most influential coaches the NBA has ever seen and a defining figure in Dallas Mavericks history, died Sunday at 86.
His family announced the news in a statement shared by NBA insider Marc Stein: "On Sunday morning, our beloved husband, dad, grandfather, and great-grandfather Don Nelson peacefully went to be with the Lord, surrounded by his loving family. Throughout his last week, friends and family encircled him with love, sharing the blessing of his friendship and revisiting treasured memories.”
Nelson’s basketball life stretched across eras and roles. He won five championships as a player with the Boston Celtics from 1963 to 1976, and in 1975 he led the league in field goal percentage. Once his playing days were over, he went straight into coaching and became the interim head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks early in the 1976-77 season.
From there, Nelson carved out a reputation as a tactician who changed how the game could look. His system became known as "Nellie Ball," and it helped make him one of the sport’s great innovators.
He stayed in Milwaukee until 1988, then moved on to the Golden State Warriors, where he became associated with the Run TMC offense built around Tim Hardaway, Chris Mullin, and Mitch Richmond. He resigned in 1995, spent a year with the New York Knicks, and was let go in 1996 because of contrasting styles of play.
After a year away, Nelson landed in Dallas in 1997 as head coach and general manager of a Mavericks team that had been among the league’s worst through the 1990s, winning more than 30 games only once in that decade before his arrival.
That move changed everything. In 1998, Nelson pulled off one of the great draft nights in NBA history, trading into the top 10 to get mystery German forward Dirk Nowitzki from the Milwaukee Bucks and then swinging a deal with the Phoenix Suns for backup Steve Nash.
Nowitzki and Nash got Dallas into the playoffs by 2001, and Nowitzki’s rise to becoming one of the greatest players in NBA history was tied closely to Nelson’s vision. Nelson was willing to let the 7-footer shoot jumpers at a time when that was extremely rare, and that approach helped shape Nowitzki’s game.
Nelson remained with the Mavericks until 2005, when he stepped down after the team failed to re-sign Nash, a move Mark Cuban has said is one of his greatest mistakes as an owner.
He returned to the Warriors in 2006 and immediately helped engineer a stunning upset, knocking off the top-seeded Mavericks and MVP Dirk Nowitzki as an 8th seed. Because he knew Nowitzki’s game so well, Nelson was able to create a difficult matchup for Dallas.
His coaching career ended in 2010, but the honors kept coming. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 and is the second-winningest coach in NBA history. In 2025, he received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award.
Nelson also made headlines that year when he wore Luka Doncic’s shoes to "protest" the trade out of Dallas, which he called a "tremendous mistake."
His connection to the Mavericks ran deeper than his own tenure. His son, Donnie, served as the team’s general manager from 2005 to 2021.
Nelson did not win a championship in Dallas, but his fingerprints were all over what the franchise eventually became. The Mavericks’ 2011 title run was built on the foundation he helped lay, starting with the discovery and development of Nowitzki.
And that’s why Nelson’s place in NBA history is secure. He was unconventional, not always easy, and not universally embraced by every player. None of that changes the size of his impact on the sport.
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Don Nelson, one of the most influential figures in Mavericks history, has died at 86, according to a family statement. A three-time NBA Coach of the Year and Hall of Famer, Nelson built a long coaching and front-office career that stretched across 31 seasons, making him one of the defining basketball minds of his era.
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