The Mavericks legend will receive the honor before game two of the NBA Finals
The great Don Nelson will be named the 2025 Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award winner, according to Marc Stein. “Nellie”, as he is often referred to, joins longtime Dallas Mavericks assistant Del Harris, who received the award in 2020, as the only two winners of the award with ties to the Mavs.
Sources: Don Nelson to be named Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award winner by National Basketball Coaches Association.
Full story via @TheSteinLine: https://t.co/LW6Y68XiBy pic.twitter.com/h2bF0g40fm
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 8, 2025
Nelson is one of the greatest coaches in Mavericks history. With his unique “Nellie ball” offense, which saw the advent of the “point forward” position, Nelson is widely regarded as one of the best innovators that this sport has ever seen. Nellie, as you know, was the coach that brought Dirk Nowitzki into the league as a young teenager from Germany. The organization, and Nelson specifically, caught a lot of criticism for how Nowitzki was utilized, with the seven-footer often playing on the perimeter as the small forward. However, the growth that Dirk experienced under Nellie was critical for his development as a player.
Coach Nelson spent 34 years as a head coach in the NBA, as he coached the Milwaukee Bucks, the Golden State Warriors (twice), the New York Knicks and the Dallas Mavericks. Nelson also played a critical part in developing Golden State Warriors legend Steph Curry early in his career, as Nellie was in his second stint as Dubs coach when Curry was drafted.
Nellie, who is enjoying life growing “Nellie Kush” in Hawaii these days, didn’t come here to just quietly accept his award. The former Mavericks coach is also here to deliver a message to his former employer. According to Stein, Nelson will be wearing a pair of Luka 4’s while accepting his award in protest of the trade that sent the superstar player to the Los Angeles Lakers. Per Stein:
“Luka is my dear friend,” Nelson said. “And to protest his being traded from the Mavericks to L.A., I’m going to wear a pair of his new shoes. I wanted to mention that.”
“My philosophy was always, when you’ve got a great player, he’s yours for a lifetime. You don’t get rid of great players. When that happened, I was pretty disappointed.”
Don Nelson is already at the Finals in OKC doing interviews about his Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award from the @NBA_Coaches.
Here he is wearing Luka 4s in the Gone Fishing colorway in a nod to the fish ties he wore as a coach.
And here’s our chat: https://t.co/LW6Y68XiBy https://t.co/CV1MMB03nW pic.twitter.com/XGkQn0fn51
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) June 8, 2025
The Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award is given out by the National Basketball Coaches Association, of whom the current president is the greatest coach in Mavericks history, Rick Carlisle. Carlisle attends the NBA Finals every year to present this award to whomever is the recipient, but this is the first time he will present the honor while actively coaching the Finals. It should be a wonderful moment for Maverick fans to celebrate.