Don Nelson, a Hall of Fame coach who won five titles while playing for the Boston Celtics and whose creative style helped transform the NBA, passed away at the age of 86, his family confirmed on Sunday. From 1966 to 1976, Nelson played for Boston for 11 seasons and was a member of five NBA championship teams. His No. 19 jersey was later retired by the Celtics. Nelson led the Milwaukee Bucks, Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, and Dallas Mavericks from 1976 to 2010 during his more than thirty-year coaching career. Before Gregg Popovich overtook him in 2022, he held the NBA coaching wins record with 1,335 wins and 1,063 losses.

When Luka Doncic heard the news while chatting with reporters, he quickly sent his condolences to the family of the Hall of Fame coach who had once protested Doncic’s trade out of Dallas by wearing his trainers. Given Doncic’s connections to the Nelson family, the homage was very meaningful. In order to purchase the Italian team Vanoli Cremona, he recently teamed up with Nelson’s son, former Mavericks executive Donnie Nelson. The reason of death has not been revealed.

Doncic and Nelson had a bond that went beyond the usual appreciation between a player and a great. After Dallas shocked the league in 2025 by moving Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers, Nelson became one of Doncic’s most outspoken advocates. Wearing Doncic’s trademark shoes, Nelson accepted the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award during the 2025 NBA Finals, referring to the deal as a ‘tremendous mistake’.

In his own homage, Doncic considered that support. With Don Nelson’s passing, today is a sad day for basketball. “I have so much respect for him and everything he did for the game, especially the way he believed in international players. I’m grateful for the time I spent with him,” he added, expressing his gratitude for their time together and his profound admiration for Nelson’s support of foreign athletes.

Nelson and Golden State have equally strong relationships. The ‘We Believe’ run in 2007, which resulted in the greatest upset in NBA playoff history when the eighth-seeded Warriors defeated Doncic’s former team, the 67-win Mavericks, was one of his two tenures as the Warriors’ coach.

During Nelson’s second tenure as coach, Golden State drafted Stephen Curry in 2009, and Curry directly acknowledged Nelson for giving him the chance. Curry remarked, “He had an immeasurable impact on the sport,” Curry said, who was known for having doubts about rookies, questioned him from the first day.