Don Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history who won five championships as a player with the Boston Celtics, died Sunday. He was 86.
Nelson’s family confirmed the death in a statement that did not how say where he died or provide a cause.
“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,” the statement said. “Throughout his last week, friends and family encircled him with love, sharing the blessing of his friendship and revisiting treasured memories.”
Nelson is one of two coaches in NBA history to have at least 250 wins with three different franchises — Milwaukee, Dallas and Golden State — also serving as general manager for all three franchises. He was a three-time coach of the year and made the playoffs 18 times in 31 seasons. He went to the conference finals three times with the Bucks and once with the Mavericks, never winning a title.
Nelson introduced what is now known as the point forward, and his up-tempo style of offense created a buzz. He said the idea of shifting from the dominant big men of the 1970s to an offense focused on speed and the fast break came from his playing days under Celtics Hall of Fame 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 said that “without Red Auerbach teaching me the mechanics of running the fast break, none of it would have been possible. He deserves all the credit for Nellie Ball, and for how fast the game of basketball is played today.”
Nelson played 11 of his 14 seasons in Boston and was on five Celtics championship teams under four different coaches. He became an assistant coach in Milwaukee after retiring as a player, then took over after coach Larry Costello resigned 18 games into the 1976-77 season. Nelson coached the Bucks for 11 seasons starting in 1976 and won seven straight division titles.
In Nelson’s second season, Milwaukee overcame a 29-point fourth quarter deficit to beat Atlanta 117-115 in regulation.
“I coached the team as though I was still playing for the Celtics, while implementing a few of my own strategies,” Nelson wrote. “I knew I wanted to play unconventional basketball and use speed to my advantage.”
His fast-paced offenses were probably best on display with Golden State in the “Run TMC” era featuring future Hall of Famers Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin. Nelson said he wanted them on the court at the same time.
Nelson spent 11 seasons over two stints with Golden State. The first one was punctuated by a rift with rookie star Chris Webber, who was traded away a month into his second season. Nelson, demoralized by the trade, missed nine games that season due to illness and resigned under pressure three months later in February 1995.
In between, Nelson was fired after less than one season in New York in 1995-96, then coached in Dallas for eight seasons, missing 21 games with the Mavericks starting in December 2000 to recuperate from prostate cancer surgery.
Nelson’s son, Donnie, joined his father as an assistant coach with the Mavericks in 1998, later became general manager and remained with the organization until 2021. Together they persuaded 20-year-old German star Dirk Nowitzki to pass up European basketball and join the Mavericks. Don Nelson also developed Steve Nash into one of the NBA’s top point guards before Nash went on to win back-to-back MVPs with the Phoenix Suns in 2005 and 2006.
“Don Nelson was a true innovator whose influence on the game of basketball is still felt today,” current Warriors coach Steve Kerr said. “He consistently challenged conventional thinking, experimented with different lineups and styles of play and saw possibilities in the game that others often did not. So much of what is now commonplace in the modern NBA can be traced back to the way Nellie approached the game.”
At Golden State, Nelson’s “We Believe” Warriors led by Baron Davis upset Nowitzki and the top-seeded Mavericks in the first round of the 2007 playoffs in one of the biggest shockers in NBA history. In his final season as a coach, Nelson mentored rookie Stephen Curry in 2009-10.
“One of the big reasons I was drafted by the Warriors was because of Don Nelson. 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,” Curry said in a statement released by the Warriors. “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.”
Davis added: “When I think of Nellie, I’ll always think of the ‘We Believe’ team and our incredible run in 2007. He understood what made us go and made us believe we could beat anybody, ultimately helping us make history as the first No. 8 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in a seven-game series. That time in my life and career was truly special, and Nellie was a huge part of making it possible.”
Nelson retired as the NBA’s career coaching wins leader with 1,335, just ahead of Lenny Wilkens’ 1,332. Nelson kept that top spot for nearly 12 years before close friend and now-retired San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich passed him in March 2022.
Nelson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012. In 2025, he received the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, presented by the National Basketball Coaches Association. Miffed that the Mavericks sent Luka Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers in a blockbuster trade, Nelson wore a pair of Doncic’s signature Jordan Brand sneakers to the awards ceremony. He called the trade a “tremendous mistake.”
Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Nelson attended high school in Rock Island, Illinois, and averaged a double-double in college at Iowa. He spent his retirement years living on the Hawaiian island of Maui and owned several short-term rentals on the island.
