Don Nelson, the sixth man who helped anchor five Boston Celtics championship teams before reinventing himself as the second-winningest coach in NBA history, died Sunday at 86.
His family said he died peacefully, surrounded by loved ones, though a formal cause of death was not released.
Nelson had reportedly suffered a stroke weeks earlier and entered hospice care, according to the Dallas Morning News, closing out a basketball life that stretched nearly half a century.
“An absolute giant. And a basketball life that seemed to touch every player and coach who’s impacted the league for generations,” wrote longtime Celtics radio play-by-play broadcaster Sean Grande on Sunday. “RIP, Nellie.”
Don Nelson’s Boston Celtics Playing Career
Nelson grew up on a farm outside Sherrard, Illinois, learning the game by shooting at a spokeless bicycle wheel nailed to a chicken-yard shed. He starred at the University of Iowa, then went 17th overall to the Chicago Zephyrs in the 1962 NBA Draft, bounced through two forgettable seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, and was waived in 1965.
Red Auerbach picked him up for a $1,000 waiver fee and turned it into one of his best moves. “Anybody could have had him,” Auerbach said at the time, according to the Boston Globe. “But only I took him.”
Nelson spent 11 seasons in Boston, mostly off the bench, averaging 11.4 points and 5.2 rebounds across 872 games while missing just 27 games. He compensated for average size and speed with a self-taught, one-handed free-throw stroke and a feel for the game that outlasted flashier teammates. He won titles in 1966, 1968, 1969, 1974 and 1976, and his No. 19 hangs in the rafters at TD Garden, as it did at the old Boston Garden.
His signature moment came in Game 7 of the 1969 Finals in Los Angeles, when his awkward jumper bounced high off the back rim and dropped through for a one-point cushion Boston never gave back.
Nelson also helped double-team Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the 1974 Finals against Milwaukee, and the following season, at 34, he led the NBA in field goal percentage, becoming the oldest and shortest player to claim that title.
“It was the luckiest shot in basketball history,” Nelson once said of the shot, according to the Boston Globe. “But it counted.”
Don Nelson’s Coaching Career and Hall of Fame Induction
Nelson turned to the sideline in Milwaukee in 1976, then built stops in Golden State, New York and Dallas into a 31-season, four-franchise coaching career defined by “Nellie Ball” small-ball offenses and the point-forward concept he pioneered with the Bucks. He engineered draft-night trades in Dallas that landed Dirk Nowitzki and Steve Nash, ran Golden State’s “Run TMC” era with Tim Hardaway, Mitch Richmond and Chris Mullin, and coached a young Stephen Curry during a second Warriors stint.
He finished with a 1,335-1,063 record, the second-most coaching wins in NBA history behind only Gregg Popovich, who passed him in 2022. Nelson made 18 playoff appearances and won three Coach of the Year awards, in 1983, 1985 and 1992, without ever reaching the Finals as a coach. He also led the 1994 U.S. national team to an undefeated run and a gold medal at the FIBA World Championship, a roster stacked with future Hall of Famers.
The Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame inducted Nelson as a coach in 2012. He received the sport’s Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award last year, an honor that recognized what Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle called Nelson’s role as a “cutting-edge innovator and visionary of the NBA game.”
Nelson had relocated from Hawaii to Frisco, Texas, earlier this year. He is survived by his wife, Joy, and seven children. A celebration of life is planned for August 13 in Dallas, with an ashes ceremony to follow later in Maui.
Don Nelson Cause of Death: Celtics 5-Time Champion Dies at 86