Former Mavericks coach trolls his old team before Game 2

Nelson was the 2025 recipient of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, presented annually by the National Basketball Coaches Association since 2009. As president of NBCA, Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle presented the award before Game 2 of the NBA Finals.

It was a rare appearance on the mainland for Nellie, the NBA's second-winningest coach behind Gregg Popovich. 

He told Marc Stein, "I haven't had shoes on for six years. And I haven't been on a plane for about seven. But I figured that this would be something I should probably be there for."

Nelson has lived in Maui for many years, where he owns a chain of rental properties, plays poker with neighbor Willie Nelson and operates a marijuana farm that grows his proprietary blend, "Nellie Kush." But he still pays attention to the NBA, including the Dallas Mavericks, the team he coached for eight seasons and where his son, Donnie, was general manager until 2021.

So when Nelson needed to wear shoes for the first time in years, he chose Luka Doncic's signature Nikes, as a tribute to the player Nelson called a "dear friend" and a protest against the trade that sent him to the Los Angeles Lakers. The younger Nelson was instrumental in trading for Doncic on draft night in 2018, but both Nelsons sued the Mavericks after leaving the organization.

Donnie Nelson reached a settlement with the organization after suing for wrongful dismissal, claiming he was fired for reporting sexual misconduct. The elder Nelson won a lawsuit against the team in 2008 for withholding $6.3M from him after he left the Mavs. The court also rejected former owner Mark Cuban's allegations that Nelson had used "confidential information" to help Golden State Warriors upset the Mavericks in the first round of the 2007 playoffs.

But Nelson said was solely "disappointed" by the deal, not angry with his old team.

"My philosophy was always, when you've got a great player, he's yours for a lifetime," Nelson said. "You don't get rid of great players. When that happened, I was pretty disappointed."

Doncic has a new chapter of his career with the Los Angeles Lakers now. And if Nike is looking for an 85-year-old man to model their Luka 4s, they can find him on a weed farm in Hawaii.