{"id":405608,"date":"2026-08-13T16:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/405608\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T16:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T16:28:14","slug":"don-nelson-celebration-of-life-honors-mavericks-coach-nbc-5-dallas-fort-worth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/405608\/","title":{"rendered":"Don Nelson celebration of life honors Mavericks coach \u2013 NBC 5 Dallas-Fort Worth"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The North Texas and NBA communities are mourning the loss of former Dallas Mavericks coach and NBA player Don Nelson.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson leaves behind a legacy as the second-most winning coach in NBA history, who won five championships as a player with the Boston Celtics, was a three-time Coach of the Year, and more. Nelson went on to inspire the next generation of basketball.<\/p>\n<p>NBA legends Rick Carlisle, a former Mavericks head coach and Celtics player too, former Mavericks player Steve Nash, and now-retired San Antonio Spurs head coach Greg Popovich attended the ceremony in North Dallas. Del Harris and Mike Dunleavy attended as well.<\/p>\n<p>Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church hosted the celebration of life ceremony.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/poster-frame-1786636163390.png\" loading=\"lazy\"   alt=\"Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church Celebration of life for Don Nelson in Dallas 08, 13, 2026.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church Celebration of life for Don Nelson in Dallas 08, 13, 2026.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson&#8217;s family did not announce where he died or provide a cause. He was 86.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson won at least 250 games with Milwaukee, Dallas, and Golden State, also serving as a general manager for all three franchises.<\/p>\n<p>He made the playoffs 18 times in 31 seasons, reaching the conference finals four times &#8211; once with the Mavericks. Nelson never won an NBA title.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson spent most of his playing career in Boston, before coaching the Bucks and Warriors for 11 seasons each.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson coached the Mavericks for eight seasons and was with the New York Knicks for less than one season.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson missed 21 games with the Mavericks starting in December 2000 to recuperate from prostate cancer surgery.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson&#8217;s son Donnie later became general manager of the Mavericks; the duo is part of the front office that brought Dirk Nowitzki to Dallas.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson retired as the NBA all-time coaching wins leader (1,335), before being passed by Popovich.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2012.<\/p>\n<p>Nelson also was not a fan of the Luka Doncic trade that sent him to the Los Angeles Lakers.<\/p>\n<p>Born in Muskegon, Michigan, Nelson attended high school in Illinois and college in Iowa. After leaving Dallas, he retired to Maui, Hawaii.<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\u201cDon Nelson was one of the driving forces of a basketball era that shaped us. He saw the game differently, challenged convention and trusted his instincts. That influence went far beyond the teams he coached. He certainly influences the way I see the game.<\/p>\n<p>Nellie\u2019s impact on\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/43y6YQ0z3t\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/43y6YQ0z3t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dallas Mavericks (@dallasmavs) <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/dallasmavs\/status\/2086574519905353998?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow\">August 9, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The North Texas and NBA communities are mourning the loss of former Dallas Mavericks coach and NBA player&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":405609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,2582,103],"class_list":["post-405608","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-dallas","tag-dallas","tag-dallas-headlines","tag-dallas-mavericks","tag-dallas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405608","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=405608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/405608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/405609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=405608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=405608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=405608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}