Don Nelson, innovative NBA coach, dies at 86

Don Nelson, the Hall of Fame basketball figure who won five NBA championships as a Boston Celtics player and later reshaped offenses across a 31-season coaching career, died Sunday. He was 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,” his family said in a statement. “Throughout his last week, friends and family encircled him with love, sharing the blessing of his friendship and revisiting treasured memories.”

The family did not disclose a cause of death. Nelson is survived by his wife, Joy, and his children. In 2000, he revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer and later said doctors removed his cancerous prostate and found no sign the disease had spread.

Nelson retired in 2010 after his second stint with the Golden State Warriors, ending his coaching career as the NBA’s all-time leader in victories with 1,335, just ahead of Lenny Wilkens. He held the record for nearly 12 years before Gregg Popovich passed him in March 2022. Nelson is now second on the career wins list.

A three-time NBA Coach of the Year, Nelson made the playoffs 18 times and coached the Milwaukee Bucks, Warriors, New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks. He also served as general manager in Milwaukee, Golden State and Dallas. He is one of two coaches in NBA history with at least 250 wins with three different franchises: the Bucks, Mavericks and Warriors.

Nelson never won a championship as a coach, but his teams reached the conference finals three times with Milwaukee and once with Dallas. His influence stretched beyond results. He helped popularize what became known as the point forward and leaned into up-tempo basketball at a time when the league was still built around dominant big men. Nelson said the approach drew on lessons from his playing days under Celtics coach Red Auerbach.

“The league really hadn’t seen an offense like the one we were running, and the results were undeniable,” Nelson wrote in 2016 in The Players’ Tribune.

Nelson played 14 NBA seasons, including 11 with Boston, and was part of five Celtics championship teams. After retiring as a player, he became an assistant coach in Milwaukee and took over as head coach 18 games into the 1976-77 season after Larry Costello resigned. He coached the Bucks for 11 seasons beginning in 1976 and won seven straight division titles.

His fast-paced style was later showcased in Golden State’s “Run TMC” era with Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. Nelson spent 11 seasons over two stints with the Warriors. His first run ended after a rift with rookie Chris Webber, who was traded early in his second season; Nelson resigned under pressure in February 1995 after missing nine games that season because of illness.

After a brief tenure with the Knicks in 1995-96, Nelson coached Dallas for eight seasons. His son, Donnie Nelson, joined him as a Mavericks assistant in 1998 and later became general manager. Together, they persuaded 20-year-old Dirk Nowitzki to leave European basketball for Dallas. Nelson also helped develop Steve Nash, who later won back-to-back MVP awards with Phoenix.

Dallas Mavericks Governor Patrick Dumont said Nelson helped transform the franchise and brought “a winning culture” to the city. “Don Nelson was a true original whose impact on the Dallas Mavericks and the game of basketball will endure for generations,” Dumont said.

Nelson returned to Golden State and coached the “We Believe” Warriors, led by Baron Davis, to a first-round upset of top-seeded Dallas in the 2007 playoffs. In his final season, he mentored rookie Stephen Curry, whom he had drafted.

“One of the big reasons I was drafted by the Warriors was because of Don Nelson,” Curry said. “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.”

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Nelson “revolutionized NBA basketball through his fearlessness, ingenuity and deep conviction.” The Warriors called him “one of the most innovative and influential coaches in NBA history” and “a true basketball visionary.”