Donnie Nelson

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Donnie Nelson is the General Manager and president of basketball operations for the Dallas Mavericks, an NBA team. He is the son of Don Nelson, the former head coach and general manager of the Mavericks.

Donnie was the assistant coach for the Mavericks when Mark Cuban purchased the team in January 2000.

After the 2004-2005 season, the younger Nelson succeeded his father as General Manager of the Mavericks. He is involved in every aspect of the Mavericks basketball operations. Nelson, who has 21 years of NBA experience, came to Dallas on Jan. 2, 1998 after three seasons as an assistant coach with Phoenix.

Nelson has guided the Mavericks to the playoffs in each season in his role as President of Basketball Operations and General Manager, including two trips to the Western Conference Finals and a trip to the NBA Finals in 2006. Of the current roster, he has acquired players through key trades (Jason Terry, Jerry Stackhouse, Erick Dampier), the NBA Draft (Dion Harris, Maurice Ager, Juwan Howard, Dirk Nowitzki), and free agency (Greg Buckner, DeSagana Diop). On previous teams Nelson played a significant role in acquiring All-Star players such as Steve Nash, Antawn Jamison, Antoine Walker, and Nick Van Exel.

Nelson also coached the Mavericks while his father and former head coach Don Nelson missed time. While the elder Nelson was recovering from cancer surgery in 2000-01, Donnie led the team to a 13-8 record. In 2001-02, he was 2-0 as the head coach. He was the top assistant to his father at Golden State, where he served the organization a total of eight seasons ('86-'94). Nelson was also a regional scout for the Milwaukee Bucks for two seasons ('84-'86).

Since 1990, Donnie has served as an assistant coach for the Lithuanian National Basketball Team. In that span, he has helped them win three bronze medals in four Olympiads, a silver medal in the 1995 European Championships and a gold medal in the 2003 European Championships. In appreciation for his contributions, Nelson was awarded the Grand Cross of the Commander 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 was responsible for signing the first player from both the Soviet Union (Sarunas Marciulionis) and China (Wang Zhizhi) to NBA contracts. In addition, Nelson holds the honor of being the only American coach to participate in a Soviet National training camp. He also pushed the Mavericks to acquire a relatively unknown German named Dirk Nowitzki on draft day in 1998.

"Donnie has been my biggest supporter from day one," said five-time NBA All-Star Dirk Nowitzki. "He works harder than any coach or president in the NBA. He thinks about basketball 24 hours a day."^{[citation needed]}

Nelson also serves as the Chief Advisor for the Chinese 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.

Also for the past two years, Nelson has worked with the NBA’s African Top 100 campaign. This outreach program provides educational opportunities to challenged African athletes.

Nelson 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. The games completed their sixth season this summer.

In December 2002, Nelson helped create the Assist Youth Foundation. The foundation's goal is to advance opportunities for underprivileged kids in the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex and across the globe.