Don Nelson, Hall of Fame Coach and NBA's Career Wins Leader, Dies at 86
TLDR: The godfather of small-ball, who coached Dirk Nowitzki and a rookie Steph Curry, has died at 86, and the tributes are pouring in from everywhere he left a mark.
The Dirk Nowitzki connection ran through Dallas, where Nelson and his son Donnie talked the young German into skipping Europe for the NBA and then built the Mavericks around him. The Curry connection ran through Golden State, where Nelson made Curry his floor general as a rookie and unleashed the shooting that eventually broke the sport. Funny enough, Nelson's fingerprints are also on the flip side of that story: his 2007 "We Believe" Warriors, an 8-seed led by Baron Davis, upset Nowitzki's top-seeded Mavericks in one of the biggest first-round shockers the league has ever seen.
Curry made sure everyone knew what that first season meant to him. "My first coach in the NBA. One of the greatest minds in the game and pushed the way it was played!! NellyBall was a real thing. Gave me the opportunity to find myself back in '09. Forever grateful. RIP Coach," he wrote.
Warriors star Steph Curry honored his first-ever NBA head coach, Don Nelson following his passing on Sunday 🙏 "My first coach in the NBA. One of the greatest minds in the game and pushed the way it was played!! NellyBall was a real thing. Gave me the opportunity to find myself back in '09. Forever grateful. RIP Coach." (via @StephenCurry30)
The basketball world spent Sunday and Monday reacting, from Adam Silver's league-wide statement to an hour-long tribute broadcast out of Dallas dedicated entirely to Nelson's career. The NBA's own account put together a look back at the arc of his Bay Area years, from Run-TMC through We Believe to the wins record he set during Curry's rookie season.
"We believe in you, coach." From leading "Run-TMC", to the historic "We Believe" Warriors, to setting the all-time coaching wins record during Steph Curry's rookie season... Don Nelson's impact on the Bay Area was special 💙💛 (via @warriors)
The Nelson family has scheduled a Celebration of Life for Thursday, Aug. 13 at Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church in Dallas, with an ashes ceremony for friends and family in Maui to be confirmed at a later date. For a coach who spent decades convincing the league to play smaller, faster and freer, it's fitting that the send-off stretches from Texas back to the beach he called home.
Don Nelson's family confirmed the Hall of Fame coach passed away Sunday morning, surrounded by loved ones. "Throughout his last week, friends and family encircled him with love, sharing the blessing of his friendship and revisiting treasured memories," the statement read. He was 86.
Hall of Famer Don Nelson, three-time NBA Coach of the Year and five times a champion as a player with the Boston Celtics, has died at age 86. The family has issued this statement: “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 resume is one of the wildest in league history. A 5-time champion as a player with the Celtics, he then spent 31 seasons roaming NBA sidelines with the Bucks, Warriors (twice), Knicks and Mavericks, retiring with a 1,335-1,063 record that made him the winningest coach the league had ever seen. That mark stood for almost 12 years until Gregg Popovich finally passed it in 2022. Nelson got in as a coach via the Hall of Fame in 2012, three-time Coach of the Year, and he spent nearly 50 years total in the NBA doing things his way.
Without Don Nelson, there might not have been a Dirk Nowitzki or Stephen Curry as we know them. Nelson was instrumental in both legends' careers, giving them the freedom to play their game without constantly worrying about the repercussions. For Dirk, Nelson believed in a skinny European big man and helped him grow into one of the greatest power forwards ever. For Steph, Nelson was one of the biggest believers in a small guard whose game was unlike anything the NBA had seen before. Both legends have credited Nellie for the impact he had on their careers. "You didn't just draft me. You believed in me. You saw things in my game before I ever realized I could do them," Dirk wrote on X. "One of the big reasons I was drafted by the Warriors was because of Don Nelson," Curry said. Nelson's influence can still be seen across today's NBA with "Nellie Ball," big men stretching defenses from beyond the arc, smaller guards controlling the pace, and teams embracing a style of basketball that once seemed unconventional. He may be gone physically, but his presence is still felt everywhere. Don Nelson didn't just coach basketball. He helped shape the basketball we watch today. And his mark on the game will be felt forever 🙏
"Nellie Ball" wasn't just a nickname, it was a philosophy that reshaped how the sport gets played. He ran small, fast, positionless lineups decades before that became the league's default setting, and he built his rosters around players other coaches wouldn't trust with the responsibility. That's exactly how a skinny 20-year-old German big man and, years later, an undersized shooter out of Davidson both ended up as centerpieces instead of afterthoughts.
