Donnie Nelson

American basketball executive

Donn Charles Nelson (born September 10, 1962) is an American basketball executive who previously held general manager and president of basketball operations roles for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is the son of Hall of Fame basketball coach Don Nelson. In a 2007 Sports Illustrated article ranking the NBA's personnel bosses from 1 to 30, Nelson was ranked 2nd. In a 2009 Yahoo Sports article, Nelson was ranked the third best general manager of the decade after producing nine 50 plus win seasons in a row and the first finals appearance in franchise history in 2006. Nelson assembled the Mavericks team that would later win the 2011 NBA championship. Having served since 2005, Nelson was the longest tenured general manager in the NBA at the time of his parting with the Mavericks in 2021. Nelson is one of the co owners of the Texas Legends, the NBA G League affiliate of the Mavericks, located in the Dallas–Fort Worth suburb of Frisco.

Donnie Nelson is the second of four children, and the only son, of basketball coach Don and Sharon Nelson. He was born in Iowa City during his father's final year at the University of Iowa, and was raised in Natick, Massachusetts when his father played for the Boston Celtics. As a teenager, Nelson also took up basketball, playing in high school for Worcester Academy. However, a broken ankle reduced his playing efficiency. He graduated in 1986. After the 1988 Summer Olympics, Marciulionis invited Nelson to Lithuania, where for three months he lived in the player's apartment in Vilnius, staging a series of basketball clinics around the increasingly restive republic. Eventually, Nelson would fly to Moscow to sign Marčiulionis in 1989, leading him to become the first Soviet Union born player in the NBA. As Don Nelson resigned from Golden State in 1995, Donnie also left the organization. From 1995 to 1998, Nelson was an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns. He was a major influence in getting the team to pick Steve Nash, who he met while Nash played in high school, and would later befriend as Nash became the star of Santa Clara University.

Nelson's tenure with the Dallas Mavericks began on January 2, 1998, when his father hired him as an assistant coach. Like with Marčiulionis and Eastern Europe in the late 1980s, Nelson opened the league to a traditionally closed market when he made the Mavericks draft the first Chinese player to ever play in the NBA, Wang Zhizhi, in the 2001 NBA draft. As the Mavericks established an NBA G League (D League) team in Frisco, Texas, a suburb north of Dallas, Nelson was named co owner. The Texas Legends began to play in the 2010–11 season,

Nelson and the Mavericks "mutually agreed to part ways" on June 16, 2021, ending Nelson's 24 year tenure with the franchise.

Since 1990, Nelson has served as an assistant coach for the Lithuania national basketball team. In 1991, as Lithuania had just been re established as an independent state, the Lithuanian Basketball Federation could not rely on public funding. Knowing of Marčiulionis's struggles, Nelson helped get sponsors for the Lithuanian team's 1992 Summer Olympics campaign, which included rock band Grateful Dead. In that period, the Lithuanians won three bronze medals in four Olympics, a silver medal in EuroBasket 1995 and a gold medal in EuroBasket 2003. In appreciation for his contributions, Nelson was awarded the Medal of the Order of the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gediminas in 1995 and the Commander's Grand Crosses of the Order for Merits to Lithuania by the President of Lithuania in 2004. He also serves as Honorary Ambassador for the League of Industries. In 1994, Nelson served as a scout for USA Basketball at the World Championships in Toronto. Dream Team II went undefeated on their way to capturing a gold medal that year. Nelson also serves as the chief advisor for the China national basketball team. During his two years of service, they equaled their all time best Olympic finish (8th) in Athens and won the Gold Medal at the 2005 Asian Championships.

Nelson is married to Lotta and has two children. Nelson has been involved with several charitable efforts. He worked with the NBA's African Top 100 campaign, an outreach program providing educational opportunities to challenged African athletes. He is the founder of the "Global Games" in Dallas, which gives area high school kids a chance to test themselves against the top Junior National teams in the world. He also helped create the Assist Youth Foundation, who offers opportunities for underprivileged kids in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and across the globe.