Category: Basketball

STORRS, CT – Norman Dale, the fictional coach at the center of "Hoosiers," had his five starters.  

Dan Hurley has his roster, and on Friday, the UConn men’s basketball coach made clear he has no intention of shopping for any more players, even as college basketball’s portal chaos rages on around him. 

"My team is on the court," Hurley said after Friday’s practice, riffing on the "Hoosiers" line to make clear the Huskies are done making changes to their roster.  

More: Dick Vitale announces he's progressing well in latest cancer battle

The quip doubled as a statement of contentment, with Hurley closing UConn’s summer practice slate by saying he’s not looking to add any new players to his roster following the recent pool of players who were granted eligibility.

Last season, the Utah Jazz brought on Kevin Love as part of the John Collins three-team trade that helped continue the tank last season. Before the season started, it was rumored that Kevin Love might not be too interested in joining the Jazz once he got there. In fact, we’re almost exactly a year away from when it was rumored that Kevin Love wanted to be traded away from the Jazz. It’s probably good to take that into consideration with the latest rumors regarding Kevin Love from Dave McMenamin.

McMenamin mentions that Love’s agent has been in contact with the Sixers since the acquisition of LeBron James, but it would require the Sixers to drop a player from their roster, which is full.

McMenamin then mentions the connection between Kevin Love and the Jazz:

Though Love has interest in pairing with James to pursue a championship, he has maintained a strong relationship with Jazz coach Will Hardy, serving as a veteran voice with that young group, sources said. Utah, however, also has a full roster.

As McMenamin mentions, the Jazz also have a full roster. Just looking at the Jazz roster, to bring on Love they’d either have to make a trade, or waive someone. They just signed Mo Bamba to a two-year deal with a team option the second season. Would the Jazz want Kevin Love enough to waive Bamba and pay two third-string centers? Or would they be willing to make a trade? The players that aren’t trade-eligible are Bamba, Jaxson Hayes, Josh Okogie, and Jusuf Nurkic. It’s ironic that three of those players happen to be centers so waiving a player might be the necessity.

Personally, I think that Love is worth it. His leadership on the team would be valuable, and he did a lot to help the young players, especially Ace Bailey. With a top-tier rookie like Darryn Peterson joining the team, it might be worth bringing on Kevin Love. The fact that the Jazz are in contact means there is interest, we’ll see if something materializes.

Stephen Curry, if you remember, was no sure thing.

Six teams passed on him in the draft.

There were questions about his size. About his playmaking ability. About his ankles.

But he had one big, boisterous, influential fan: Don Nelson.

“One of the big reasons I was drafted by the Warriors was because of Don Nelson,” Curry said in a statement Sunday, remembering the life of the larger-than-life coach shortly after Nelson’s family announced his peaceful passing at the age of 86.

Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history, spent only 11 of his 31 seasons with the Warriors but oversaw the two most memorable eras of basketball in the Bay Area before Curry’s arrival in the “Run TMC” and “We Believe” teams. Then, he spent retirement growing pot in Maui with Willie Nelson.

He was an iconoclast. Somebody Steve Kerr described as a “true innovator” for the fast-paced, small-ball style that was unorthodox at the time but now is commonplace.

But “Nellie ball” wasn’t the only way Nelson shaped the modern-day NBA.

He helped lay the foundation of the Warriors’ dynasty.

Before Kerr, before four championships and a glistening new arena, there was Curry. 

And before Curry, there was a long-forsaken franchise with a fledgling ownership group and an aging coach about to be nudged into retirement that possessed the No. 7 pick in the 2009 draft.

Curry was considered such a longshot that he refused to set up a workout or take a meeting with Golden State’s front office. After all, the Warriors already had a star point guard, Monta Ellis. Curry has since said that he was all but certain he would be taken by the Knicks at No. 8.

Despite his soon-to-be-lame-duck status, Nelson was a figure of stability in a draft room that featured first-year general manager Larry Riley. It wouldn’t have been very much like him to do the conventional thing or to not have his voice be heard.

He urged the Warriors to take Curry with the No. 7 pick.

The rest, as they say, is history.

“The story is he never liked rookies,” Curry continued in the statement, “but from Day 1 he challenged me and gave me an opportunity to be my best self on the court. He taught me a lot during our one season together and I’ll never forget the night he became the winningest coach in NBA history in Minnesota. We were so happy for him.

“He had an immeasurable impact on the sport and will go down as one of the greatest minds in the history of the game. He’s a true icon and will be missed by the countless number of people he touched, including myself, during a legendary career.”

Curry would only go on to play one season for Nelson, and it would take another coaching change to unlock his full potential alongside Draymond Green and Klay Thompson under Kerr.

But ever since Nelson witnessed Curry in-person in the 2009 NIT at Saint Mary’s College, he knew he had something special on his hands. 

“I was marveling at his skill from shooting and passing and ball handling,” the Hall of Fame coach recalled to ESPN.com in a 2021 interview. “I just thought he was a star. I never dreamed we were going to be able to get him.”

Even before Curry had sunk a single NBA 3-pointer, Nelson took an interest in the shot that would go on to set a record with 4,248 and counting. The sharpshooter recalled a story from his rookie season on the “Mind the Game” podcast with LeBron James and Steve Nash.

“They were trying to get me in the weight room doing all these lifts and stuff. I’m shooting like trash in training camp, the first week, and [Nelson] walked in there and cussed out everybody in the room,” Curry said. “Like, ‘Y’all killing his shot! He’s lifting too much weight!’ I didn’t even know that was a concept. I just wanted to get stronger.”

In case there was any concern about revisionist history, Nelson went on the record about his view on Curry in a little-seen interview during a summer league game shortly after he was drafted.

“Well, I’m a big fan of his,” Nelson said. “I think he’s going to be a terrific player. He’s just starting.”

When Nelson retired, he was the NBA’s all-time leader in wins (only since surpassed by Gregg Popovich). And when Curry hangs them up, he will be considered the greatest shooter of all time.

Who knows how it all would have played out had Nelson not made speaking up for Curry one of the final acts in his legendary coaching career.

Since Steph Curry joined the Golden State Warriors 17 years ago, they have been the blueprint for success in the NBA. But according to one of Curry’s former teammates, the team would have had the same level of success even without him.

“If you switched me and Steph out with the team that won championships, it’d be the same thing,” Ellis told ESPN. “So you’ve got to take the good with the bad, and that’s cool. It put me in a position to make money for me and my family.

“I ran with that.”

Ellis was selected by the Warriors in the second round of the 2005 NBA Draft and played with the team until 2012, when he was traded in the middle of the season to the Milwaukee Bucks.

During his first six seasons with Golden State, Ellis averaged 35.7 minutes, 19.6 points, 4.4 assists, and 3.7 rebounds per game. He won the NBA’s Most Improved Player in 2007. But the franchise was unable to break through during his tenure by the bay.

“Real people that know basketball and all that, …They know the team that I was dealt with.”

Ellis’ career went on to last another six years, during which he still saw regular time as a starter for the Bucks, Dallas Mavericks and Indiana Pacers.

The Warriors only made the playoffs once during his tenure in Golden State, losing in the second round of the Western Conference playoffs to the Utah Jazz.

Meanwhile, Curry was selected seventh overall by the Warriors in the 2009 NBA Draft and saw regular playing time during his first two seasons.

Curry’s time on the floor shortened in 2011, and he appeared in only 26 games for Golden State as he was dealing with an ankle injury, after having surgery on it during the offseason.

From that point forward, Curry blossomed into arguably the greatest shooter the game of basketball has ever seen.

In 2015, Curry won his first of two NBA MVP awards, when he averaged 30.1 points per game, knocking down 5.1 three-pointers per game.

He would go on to revolutionize the sport of professional basketball. Today’s NBA is a direct consequence of Curry’s ability to stretch the floor and shoot from anywhere. Very few people in history have had the type of impact Curry has, let alone Monta Ellis.

Curry, alongside Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, would go on to win four NBA titles. Ellis, on the other hand, did not garner a single All-Star nomination throughout his career.

Dirk Nowitzki and Luka Doncic have joined the basketball world in mourning the death of Don Nelson.

Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history and a prominent Mavericks figure, died on Sunday at the age of 86.

“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,” Nelson’s family said in a statement, according to long-time NBA reporter Marc Stein, who is connected closely to Dallas.

The Dallas Morning News reported that Nelson suffered a stroke a few weeks ago and had been admitted to hospice during his recovery.

“Throughout his last week, friends and family encircled him with love, sharing the blessing of his friendship and revisiting treasured memories,” the family statement continued.

Nowitzki wrote an emotional tribute to Nelson, who was his first and longtime NBA coach.

“Nellie… You didn’t just draft me. You believed in me,” Nowitzki wrote on X. “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.”

Nelson was hired as the Mavericks’ head coach and general manager ahead of the 1997-98 season and is credited with the development of Dirk Nowitzki, controversially selected No. 9 overall in the 1998 NBA Draft, and Steve Nash, whom the Mavs acquired prior to the 1998-99 season after he flopped in Phoenix for the first two seasons of his career.

Doncic, who played for the Mavs from 2018 until he was infamously traded in early February 2025 to the Los Angeles Lakers, reflected on Nelson’s legacy in a social media post. Nelson was team president when Dallas traded for him on draft night.

“It’s a sad day for basketball with the passing of Don Nelson,” Doncic wrote on X. “I have so much respect for him and everything he did for the game, especially the way he believed in international players. I’m grateful for the time I spent with him. Thinking of the entire Nelson family today. I loved getting to know you, Coach.”

Before becoming one of basketball’s great coaching innovators, Nelson spent 14 seasons as an NBA player and won five championships with the Celtics.

He later became much more accomplished from the sideline.

Nelson coached 31 seasons in the NBA, leading the Bucks, Warriors, Knicks and Mavericks.

He finished with 1,335 regular-season victories, which stood as the league record until Gregg Popovich surpassed him in 2022.

Nelson remains second on the NBA’s all-time coaching wins list and was named NBA Coach of the Year three times before eventually being inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.

Not much going on out there. We’ve written about Michael Porter Jr.‘s extension and why Joe and Clara Wu Tsai are likely to hang on to their Brooklyn sports assets, despite their marital split. That’s not mentioning the rationale behind the Liberty’s decision to move on from Betnijah Laney-Hamilton, a critical piece in New York’s championship run two years ago and a local favorite. And oh yeah, what might have been if it wasn’t for a war in the Middle East. There are worse consequences than a missed NBA game.

Now, with most roster spots — even two-ways — filled and families getting ready for long-delayed vacations, things naturally get less busy. Mobile devices are still turned on but there’s less to talk about, particularly with Brooklyn whose off-season was mostly about one big trade, for Julius Randall, one big draft pick, in Mikel Brown Jr. and one big summer league surprise, Egor Demin. Free agency, which is becoming less of a big deal around the league, saw the Nets add some pieces — Moe Wagner and Keon Ellis, extend couple of others — Day’Ron Sharpe and Josh Minott, and bid farewell to Jalen Wilson, Ziaire Williams and Tyson Etienne.

Might they be part of some end-of-summer trade, if not a player? Sure, but that’s not what’s expected.

So we’re left as we often are this time of year tracking what’s going on with the players under contract, and there’s been a little bit of news, most of it far away from Brooklyn.

The big gathering was in L.A. as the players’ union, the NBPA, opened a west coast training center in an old Clippers training facility. A number of Nets were on hand for the inauguration of the union’s second players facility, the other in midtown Manhattan not far from Rockefeller Plaza.

The Nets contingent was strong on Day 1…

We counted MPJ, Tre Mann, Drake Powell and Danny Wolf. Porter Jr. looked healthy and solid and Drake Powell (in the red shorts) was making shots and being aggressive. We don’t know if there were others out of camera range or if we missed any in quickly perusing IG videos. Nor do we know why so many Nets, none of them with SoCal roots, were in L.A. for the opening. In the past, Nets players have gathered near L.A. for self-organized training and bonding sessions. Could that be happening this summer as well?

Meanwhile, Day’Ron Sharpe is back home after an event-filled couple of weeks that saw him get engaged (congratulations!) in Puerto Rico…

… then move on to China — Shanghai, Huangzhou and Hong Kong — with Nets legend Kenyon Martin and assistant coach Juwan Howard (a former teammate of Yao Ming) on a team-organized tour…

As former teammate, David Duke Jr., referred to him in comments as “Mr. Worldwide.” Duke Jr. now plays in Italy.

As part of the tour, the trio did some meet-and-greets with fans who posted their own pics…

… as well as with team sponsors in China and events with the “Cheer Nets,” the Chinese version of the Brooklynettes dance team that promotes the Nets at events across the PRC. They also visited the Huangzhou headquarters of Alibaba, which is headed by Joe Tsai, and an Asian University Basketball League championship game, also in Huangzhou, where Sharpe offered commentary. The league which seeks to replicate the NCAA at universities across the Asia was co-founded and financed by Tsai. Everyone eats.

Meanwhile, someone caught the back seat of Moe Wagner on his more quotidian European vacation, featuring the family dog and a vintage New Jersey Nets cap…

As our Bryan Fonseca noted both in 2018 and we reiterated after he signed with the Nets, a Wagner-Brooklyn mash-up has been in the stars for a while…

We’ve also heard Wagner has been living in Brooklyn for a while.

Look Back

Earlier this week, the Nets released a nearly 1o-minute video retrospect on the Nets Summer League team in Las Vegas, focused on Egor Demin’s bonding with the Nets three rookies — Mikel Brown Jr., Joshua Jefferson and Tyler Bilodeau — whether on the court or out at a golf range.

There’s also some fun talk and video about Bilodeau’s family history with hockey, his father Brent’s career as a physical defender in the pro hockey circuits.

A couple of pieces of news about the Summer League we picked up recently. We know we’ve mentioned that Jefferson, the 6’9” senior point forward out of Iowa State, is seen as a steal by Brooklyn brass at No. 28. It’s an assessment that’s unchanged despite a lackluster performance in Las Vegas.

Jefferson couldn’t play, scrimmage or practice with Brooklyn at all until the Julius Randle-for-Nic Claxton deal was made official on July 9 so he got a pass. But don’t be surprised if you hear down the line, as we have of late, that that the Nets wanted the exchange of picks in that three team trade specifically so they could take JJ. The Nets had the No. 33 pick, at the top of the second round, before the trade … but believed Jefferson might not be there. So they attached the swap of the Nets No. 33 for the Timberwolves No. 28 in the deal. They believe that Jefferson fell in large part because he was a 22-year-old, four-year senior.

The other is more an interesting look at how the NBA at large can be at a disadvantage when offering Exhibit 10s to NCAA players with a year of eligibility left. The Nets recruited Duke Brennan, a solid 6’10” Villanova big man, to play for their Summer League squad. He didn’t play much in Sacramento or Las Vegas but was rumored to be a candidate for an Exhibit 10 deal with Brooklyn.

An Exhibit 10 contract can mean a training camp invite but it can also be a way for teams to populate their G League squads with prospects. A player signs an Exhibit 10, gets cut and immediately moves to the G League training center. Financially, a G League player on an Exhibit 1o can make about $135,000 a year max: the standard G League contract — a bit less than $50,000 — plus a bonus of up to $85,000 if they stick around the G for 60 days. (Our Connor Long reports that while some teams will try to negotiate that figure down, the Nets do not, providing the full bonus to all their Exhibit 10 deals.)

But Brennan has NCAA eligibility left and so, according to reports, at least five schools would like to add him — and pay him NIL money which could reach seven figures easily. At this point, it look like Brennan will return to school a richer man than if he joined the pros.

Meet and Greet

Last week, the 76ers moved their press conference introducing Jaylen Brown from the 76ers practice facility which is located across the Delaware from Camden, N.J. to the Francis J. Myers Recreation Center in West Philadelphia where dozens of children were ready to greet him. They formed a line to slap fives with the player who arguably will be their team’s best this season…

.

The Nets did it when they introduced their three rookies in early July at their Brooklyn Basketball Training Center also with a line of enthusiastic kids…

The rationales may be different — the 76ers training facility where pressers are usually held is divorced from either community — Camden or Philadelphia — while the Nets training facility is in a century-old industrial park on the Brooklyn waterfront but not far from Sunset Park and other Brooklyn neighborhoods. Traditionally, press conferences around the NBA are held without an audience, particularly kids.

Are we seeing a league trend to bring players closer to their younger fans? For the Nets of course, it’s their strategy: generational fandom — screw the proliferation of Knicks jerseys! Still, every team should be trying to break through what many see as the economic stratification of fandom brought on high prices for everything from tickets to concessions to team gear to streaming services to paywalls for sports pages. No one is hurt more by that stratification than youngsters.

The 76ers portrayed the decision to switch venues as Brown’s desire to get closer to the fans than he could have at a traditional press conference, particularly in Camden. The Nets would only say a presser in front of enthusiastic youngsters was more “festive.” It certainly wasn’t unscripted.

Several of the youngsters were already outfitted with the three rookies’ jerseys just days after the rooks were drafted. After YES Network and NBC Sports’ Noah Eagle asked his questions, the kids, sitting in a semi-circle, got their chance, all of it choreographed. The rooks and Sean Marks then adjourned to a back room where the media asked their questions in a more informal setting than usual. Nothing was lost.

So we’ve now seen it twice. Once more and we’ll declare it a trend.

NBA Schedule comes out this week

We don’t know the day, but the NBA schedule will finally be released. For Nets fans, who are not going to play on Christmas and their national games will probably be counted on one hand, maybe one finger, the big news will be when they open, against who and where; the home opener, and when they will be playing the NBA champion New York Knicks. Remain strong.

The NBA is in mourning after Hall of Fame coach Don Nelson died Sunday.

The impact of Nelson’s death has already been felt by players and coaches around the league, including Golden State Warriors coach Steve Kerr, Steph Curry and Tim Hardaway.

“Don Nelson was a true innovator whose influence on the game of basketball is still felt today. He consistently challenged conventional thinking, experimented with different lineups and styles of play and saw possibilities in the game that others did not,” Kerr said, from NBA insider Marc Stein’s report. “So much of what is now commonplace in the modern NBA can be traced back to the way Nellie approached the game. His impact on the Warriors is just as significant.”

Kerr said Nelson shaped some of the most memorable teams and moments in Warriors basketball history when he coached the team from 1988-1995 and during a second stint from 2006-2010.

During Nelson’s time coaching the Warriors, he led them to the playoffs six times and became the NBA’s all-time winningest coach in 2010. He eventually moved to second on that list in 2022, when Gregg Popovich surpassed his victory total. Nelson won 1,335 regular-season games, and Popovich tallied 1,390.

Curry, who had a long-lasting relationship with Nelson, said Nelson was one of the biggest reasons he was drafted by the Warriors.

“The story is he never liked rookies, but from Day 1 he challenged me and gave me an opportunity to be my best self on the court. He taught me a lot during our one season together [2009-2010], and I’ll never forget the night he became the winningest coach in NBA history in Minnesota,” Curry said. “We were so happy for him. He had an immeasurable impact on the sport and will go down as one of the greatest minds in the history of the game.”

Curry said Nelson is a true icon of basketball and said he will be dearly missed, sending his love and condolences to his family.

Hardaway played under Nelson twice in his career, when he was a member of the Warriors from 1989-1996 and with the Dallas Mavericks from 2001-2002.

Hardaway said Nelson meant so much to him “as a coach and as a person.”

“Nellie believed in me from the beginning and gave me the confidence and freedom to play my game. I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity he gave me and the special years we shared with Run TMC,” Hardaway said of his on-court pairing with Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. “Nellie was ahead of his time, and there was nobody else like him. He had an incredible impact on my career and on the game of basketball. I’m going to miss him, and my thoughts and prayers are with Joy, Donnies, and the entire Nelson family.”

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The NBA community is mourning the death of Hall of Fame player and coach Don Nelson.

Nelson, who won five championships as a member of the Boston Celtics and then became one of the sport's winningest coaches, died Sunday, Aug. 9, at the age of 86.

He served as an NBA head coach for 31 seasons with four teams: the Milwaukee Bucks, New York Knicks, Dallas Mavericks and Golden State Warriors.

The Warriors issued a statement on their official Instagram account calling Nelson "an iconic figure in Warriors history" for his 11 seasons with Golden State.

"He was a true basketball visionary who saw the game differently and was never afraid to challenge conventional thinking," the post read, in part. "His approach helped shape the game and paved the way for generations of players and coaches who followed."

OG Anunoby will forever be connected to one of the biggest moments in Knicks history, but he’s “over it.”

The veteran forward is already beginning to move past the celebration of the franchise’s championship season as he prepares for the 2026-27 campaign, his 10th in the NBA.

Anunoby played an instrumental role in New York winning its first NBA championship since 1973, providing the high-level two-way production that has defined his career while also delivering the title run’s signature moment: a miracle game-winning tip-in with 1.2 seconds left in Game 4 of the Finals as the Knicks erased a 29-point deficit.

But with the accomplishment now behind him, Anunoby indicated in an interview with Sky Sports that he is ready to turn the page rather than spend the offseason dwelling on what the team accomplished.

“It comes up quite a bit so I see it quite a bit,” the London-born Anunoby said while visiting the United Kingdom.

Asked if he gets the same feeling when watching it back, he replied, in classic Anunoby fashion: “No. I’m over it now.”

His reaction isn’t surprising, given that Anunoby has developed a reputation for hardly showing emotion, which has made him even more likable among Knicks fans.

Even after producing one of the most dramatic moments in recent NBA history, Anunoby has remained reserved about the attention surrounding him.

In describing what the title was like, Anunoby reflected on what it took to bring home New York’s first NBA title in 53 years.

“Honestly, before the start of the playoffs, our whole team just came together and we knew we had one goal. We took every game day by day, game by game,” he said.

“We went on a crazy run. I don’t know how many games we won in a row (13) but every game was focused on the next, trying to build and be better than we were the last game. Even in the Finals, it was just day by day, game by game.”

Anunoby, who turned 29 in June, averaged 16.7 points per game while shooting 48.4 percent from the field, 38.6 percent from 3-point range and was named to the Second Team All-Defense for the second time in his career.

During the playoffs, Anunoby elevated to 20.1 points per game while shooting 56 percent from the field and about 49 percent from deep while also pulling down 6.3 rebounds per contest.

Anunoby, like Jalen Brunson, is extension eligible next season and his current deal runs through the 2027-28 season, with a player option in 2028-29.

He will be remembered around the DFW area as a Dallas Mavericks coaching and front office legend, but as large as his presence loomed over the franchise he guided from utter dormancy to perennial power, the basketball moments Don Nelson authored outside of his time with the Mavericks will be remembered as his most lasting and impactful.

Nelson passed away at age 86 on Sunday. At the time of his passing, Nelson had been living full-time on Maui, Hawaii, specifically in a home overlooking the Pacific Ocean in Kihei. He had come a long way from Muskegon, Mich., where he was born on May 15, 1940, but his mileage in the game of basketball is rivaled only by an elite few. And he’d hate for his name to be mentioned in a sentence also occupied by the word “elite.”

His family issued the following statement, first reported 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.”

The cause of death was not publicly disclosed.

Nelson will be remembered as an innovator and a maverick, befitting the name of the franchise he coached from 1997-2005, a giant of the game he spent his life dedicated to and a fun-loving, unforgettable figure. He advocated for wildfire relief in Maui and for cannabis reform outside the game.

“People thought I was a mad scientist,” Nelson said in 2025 after receiving the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award by the NBA Coaches Association. “They may have been right.”

He arrived in Dallas in 1997, taking on the tall task of revitalizing a stagnant Mavericks franchise. He immediately jettisoned Oliver Miller, the overweight and chronically unhappy center. The brand of “Nellie Ball” he would introduce Mavericks fans to over the next nine seasons would help usher in a new, fast-paced style of play that coincided with the game’s growing globalization.

“I read where Miller said he doesn’t care anymore, and I don’t want people like that around,” Nelson said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I don’t want anybody on my basketball team who doesn’t care.”

He was already the sixth-winningest NBA head coach ever when he came to Dallas, after being fired by the New York Knicks the year prior. He replaced Jim Cleamons as head coach late in the 1996-97 campaign.

“I thought I would be coming back to the NBA as a coach,” he told the Times. “Not many of these [general manager] jobs open up. I’m as surprised as anyone here.”

Nelson continued to surprise us all throughout his tenure as the Mavs’ coach and GM.

His first two seasons with the Mavericks were not successful, perhaps even steps back from the team’s 24-58 record in 1996-97, but as Dirk Nowitzki began to develop into the game-changing star that Mavs fans would come to know and love, Nelson’s stock, and his team’s, began to soar.

Nowitzki would go on to score 20.7 points and pull down 7.5 rebounds per game over his 21-year career with the Mavs, earning MVP honors for the 2006-07 season and leading the franchise to its first and only championship in 2011. Nowitzki posted his remembrance on X, formerly Twitter, on Sunday afternoon, saying:

“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.”

The Mavs went 40-42 in 1999-2000, then embarked on an 11-year run of 50 wins or more, the first five of which came under Nelson’s tutelage. His son and future Mavericks’ GM Donnie Nelson is credited with initially scouting and “discovering” the otherworldly talent hiding in Wurtzburg, Germany, and Don and Donnie did their best to hide Nowitzki’s raw, game-changing talent from other front offices early on in that process.

Don Nelson watched Nowitzki train for the first time at the Downtown Dallas YMCA, leading Nelson to call the future star “the most unbelievable young player” he had ever seen. He literally hid the teenage Nowitzki in his basement for a time before Nowitzki was drafted ninth overall by the team in 1998.

Nelson was also integral in point guard Steve Nash’s development. Nowitzki and Nash would lead the Mavericks to 57 wins in 2001-02 and 60 more the next year. Dallas would lose in the Western Conference Finals both seasons before Nash departed for Phoenix in the summer of 2004. Nash would go on to win NBA MVP honors in both 2004-05 and 2005-06.

Outside of his time with the Mavericks, Nelson will be remembered for scoring a Game 7-securing insurance bucket in the 1969 NBA Finals, when he played for Red Auerbach’s Boston Celtics. His shot from near the right elbow bounced high off the back of the rim and straight in, as if guided through the net by the basketball gods. It will be forever remembered as one of the biggest moments in late-game championship history.

“[Auerbach] called me up and said, ‘What do you think about Nelson?’” Tommy Heinsohn, Basketball Hall of Famer in the class of 1986 and Auerbach’s assistant, said. “I said, ‘This guy is slower than the turtle. But I’m going to tell you something, Red. He is a terrific offensive player. He can score.‘”

He would go on to win five championships as a player and three NBA Coach of the Year titles during his 31 seasons roaming the sidelines. Including his 14-year playing career, he spent 45 years in the professional game. He was a titan among titans. An icon who left an ever-lasting impact on every franchise he touched, from his start in Boston to his late coaching run with the Golden State Warriors, where he led the eight-seeded “We Believe” bunch to a first-round playoff win over his former team, the Mavericks, in the 2006-07 playoffs.

The Mavericks won 67 games that regular season, but that old rascal lovingly known as Nellie knew a little something about how to bring down the team he had built into the best in the West.

He finished his coaching career with 1,335 coaching wins, which at the time of his retirement in 2010 was the most all-time. His 79 ejections during his 31-year coaching career are an unofficial record as well. You could never accuse Nelson of not caring.

Nelson made 18 playoff appearances as a coach, finishing with a 75-91 postseason record. San Antonio Spurs coaching legend Gregg Popovich passed his regular-season mark in 2022, and Popovich’s 1,390 still stands today.

The Nelson Family has also announced that there will be a celebration of life in tribute to Don Nelson on Thursday, Aug. 13, at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas. An ashes ceremony in Maui for friends and family will be confirmed at a future date, according to Stein.

Mavericks Governor Patrick Dumont released a statement shortly after the initial reports of Nelson’s passing, saying:

“Don Nelson was a true original whose impact on the Dallas Mavericks and the game of basketball will endure for generations. 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.

“On behalf of the entire Mavericks organization, our thoughts are with Don’s family, friends, former players and coaches, and the many people whose lives he touched. We are grateful for all he gave to the Mavericks and to the game he loved.”

Rest easy, Coach Nelson. The game you loved with every ounce of your soul mourns your loss today.

And now, he’s ante’d up at the Great Card Game in the Sky.

The NBA world lost one of its greats on Sunday, as Hall of Famer Don Nelson has passed away at the age of 86. His family announced the news, saying, “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 was a legendary figure with the Golden State Warriors and numerous other teams. After a collegiate career at Iowa, Nelson played briefly with the Chicago Zephyrs and Los Angeles Lakers before cementing his legacy with an 11-year tenure on the Boston Celtics, in which he won five NBA championships and had his No. 19 jersey retired.

In his first year after hanging up his sneakers, Nelson worked as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks, but was promoted to head coach just 18 games into the season. A year later, he took on double duty as both coach and general manager, and held both roles for more than a decade. He resigned in 1988 due to fractured relationship with Milwaukee’s owner.

That led to Nellie’s first stint with the Warriors. He took over as Golden State’s head coach in 1988, and coached for six seasons before resigning in February of 1995. With the Warriors, Nelson formed the famous Run TMC era, as Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond, and Chris Mullin became a fast-paced, free-wheeling, highly-entertaining trio.

After a brief stint coaching the New York Knicks, and eight years at the helm of the Dallas Mavericks, Nellie returned to the Warriors for the 2006-07 season. In his first year back in the Bay Area, Nelson formed built the deeply entertaining We Believe Warriors squad, when the eighth-seeded Dubs shocked the top-seeded Mavericks for one of the biggest upsets in NBA history.

Nelson continued coaching the Warriors through the 2009-10 season, which was Steph Curry’s rookie year, before resigning. It has been reported that Nelson was one of the strongest voices advocating for the Warriors to draft Curry, while many had questions about the future superstar’s ability to survive against the size and physicality of the NBA.

That was Nelson’s final year in the NBA, after which he retired to Maui where he was known for his celebrity-filled poker games and his marijuana farm.

Nelson, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2012, finished his playing career with 10,898 points and five rings, and his coaching career with a 1,335-1,063 record, 18 playoff appearances, and three Coach of the Year honors (including in 1992 with the Warriors).

Rest in peace, Nellie.

Don Nelson, the Hall of Famer who won five championships as a player before a decades-long coaching career that included a brief stint with the Knicks, died Sunday, his family said in a statement.

He was 86 years old. A cause of death wasn’t revealed.

“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,” Nelson’s family said in a statement, according to NBA reporter Marc Stein. “Throughout his last week, friends and family encircled him with love, sharing the blessing of his friendship and revisiting treasured memories.”

Before his second career as a coach, where he notably helped jumpstart the careers of Dirk Nowitzki and Steph Curry, the 6-foot-6 Nelson starred for the Celtics. He won five titles in Boston while averaging 10.3 points and 4.9 rebounds across a 14-year playing career that also included stints with the Chicago Zephyrs — who drafted him in the third round of the 1962 draft out of Iowa — and the Lakers.

Nelson — whose coaching career began as an assistant with the Bucks in 1976 and stretched until his final season as head coach of the Warriors in 2009-10 — won 1,335 games as a head coach, which sits as the second-most in NBA history behind former Spurs coach Gregg Popovich. He earned the league’s Coach of the Year honor three times. He invented “Nellie Ball,” which embraced a smaller lineup based on speed, and made it acceptable to use a point-forward. “Most of all I wanted to have all my best players on the court at the same time — regardless of position,” Nelson wrote in an article in The Players’ Tribune in 2016.

That vision all started to take shape after landing his first chance as head coach during that first season in Milwaukee, when Larry Costello resigned in November 1976 after a 3-15 start.

“I expected to be an assistant at least two years, maybe longer, before trying for a head coaching job,” Nelson, just 36 years old at the time, said, according to the New York Times. “I don’t have the most experience in the world.”

But Nelson was never an assistant again. He served as the Bucks’ head coach until 1988, winning Coach of the Year twice — in 1983 and 1985 — and guiding Milwaukee to at least 50 wins across seven consecutive seasons. Then, after a season away from the sport, Nelson took over the Warriors for the 1988-89 campaign, staying in the Bay Area until his resignation in February 1995 with a 14-31 record. He earned his third and final Coach of the Year nod in 1992.

The Knicks hired him as their Pat Riley successor for the 1995-96 season, but Nelson was fired after just 59 games. He latched on with the Mavericks in 1997-98, though, and slowly started to restore their franchise. Dallas picked Nowitzki at No. 9 overall in the 1998 draft, and by the end of the 2000-01 campaign, the Mavericks were back in the playoffs.

Nelson’s final stint as a coach doubled as a reunion, as he took over a Warriors team that hadn’t cracked the postseason since his resignation. Golden State, as the No. 8 seed, upset the Mavericks in the first round of Nelson’s first season. And while they didn’t make the playoffs again before his exit in September 2010, he coached Curry during his rookie campaign — with Curry acknowledging in a statement Sunday that “one of the big reasons I was drafted by the Warriors” was because of Nelson.

“The story is he never liked rookies,” Curry said in a statement, “but from Day 1 he challenged me and gave me an opportunity to be my best self on the court. … He had an immeasurable impact on the sport and will go down as one of the greatest minds in the history of the game. He’s a true icon and will be missed by the countless number of people he touched, including myself, during a legendary career.”

The Warriors, in a statement, described Nelson — who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012 — as “a true basketball visionary who saw the game differently and was never afraid to challenge conventional thinking.” Chris Mullin, part of the “Run TMC” Golden State teams with Tim Hardaway and Mitch Richmond, said Nelson “was more than a coach to me.” Richmond said, in part, that Nelson “made the game fun.” Nowitzki credited Nelson with seeing “things in my game before I ever realized I could do them.”

“Nellie was ahead of his time,” Hardaway said in a statement, “and there was nobody else like him.”