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The Golden State Warriors will honor Hall of Fame head coach Don Nelson with “Nellie Night” when the team hosts the Los Angeles Lakers at Chase Center on October 6 in the Warriors’ first home preseason game of the 2026-27 season. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. The evening will celebrate Nelson’s legacy with former Warriors players and members of Nelson’s family in attendance, special in-game tributes and in-arena offerings, including: All fans in attendance will receive a commemorative “Nellie” pin upon entry. Souvenir “Nellie Night” beer koozies for 24-ounce cans, featuring logos from Warriors teams coached by Nelson, will be available for purchase at select locations in limited quantities. In a nod to Nelson’s 1,335 career coaching victories, select eateries at Chase Center will offer the “Nellie Ball Three-Pointer” for $13.35, featuring three Italian-style beef meatballs with roasted tomato sauce, whipped ricotta, Parmesan, garlic breadcrumbs and warm garlic bread. As previously announced, the Warriors will wear a “Nellie” memorial band on the team’s uniforms during “Nellie Night” and throughout the 2026-27 season. Nelson, who spent 11 seasons as head coach of the Warriors, passed away on August 9 at the age of 86.
Dirk Nowitzki reflects on the passing of Don Nelson: "That was a tough one, you know, and and I had just seen him when we gave him the lifetime achievement award in June and he looked good and and he held a little speech and he was funny. That hit me hard that he went downhill so fast now. Every time something like this happens, you go down memory lane a little bit and look at old photos and watch old films with him. He meant so much to me in my career. He's helped me with his system that when I came, it was perfect for me and he always gave me the confidence to play my game. He just saw the game a little different than most coaches and he really was a vital key piece for me to find my confidence, find my game, let me shoot threes, let me bring the ball up. It was perfect."
Brad Townsend: Mavs fans, circle Nov. 18. The franchise tenatively plans to honor former coach and GM Don Nelson, who died on Aug. 9. It would be appropriate if Nelson honored that night because Dallas is hosting another of his former teams, Golden State, which this season will wear a "NELLIE" patch on jerseys.
The Warriors are set to honor late NBA coach Don Nelson this season by wearing a band across the shoulder of their uniforms that reads “NELLIE.” Golden State announced the new patch Wednesday for Nelson, who died Aug. 9.
Dalton Johnson: The Warriors will honor the legendary Don Nelson with a Nellie patch on their jerseys throughout the 2026-27 season, they’ve announced @NBCSWarriors
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Marc Stein: The Warriors just announced that they will have a Don Nelson band affixed to their jerseys this coming season in tribute to their two-time head coach. Portland and Sacramento recently announced they would do the same in honor of Nelson’s fellow Hall of Famer Rick Adelman.
Rick Carlisle, who passed Nelson as the winningest coach in Mavericks history, expressed how Nelson was an innovator in basketball with his "Nellie Ball" style that led to three NBA Coach of the Year awards. "Terms like 'small ball, stretch-big, point-forward, positionless, cross-matching' are all common terms today.' Nellie invented this stuff," Carlisle said. "And it wasn't until a few years ago when everyone else figured out this is the way the game should go. He was decades ahead of them. And in the history of human innovation, oftentimes the savant thinkers come up with something very simple and take it to levels none of us could have dreamed."
Doc Rivers’ career coaching the Orlando Magic (1999-2004), Celtics (2004-2013), Clippers (2013-2020), Philadelphia 76ers (2020-23) and Milwaukee Bucks (2023-26) earned him a place on the league’s top 15 coaches of all-time list a couple of years ago, and he’s had phenomenal success most coaches can only dream of having. Only five coaches in NBA history have more victories than Rivers’ 1,194 regular-season wins. Only Popovich (1,390), Don Nelson (1,335), Lenny Wilkens (1,332), Jerry Sloan (1,221) and Pat Riley (1,210) have more. He’s coached the fourth-most games in league history (2,060). Among coaches with at least 1,000 games on the sidelines, Rivers has the ninth-highest regular-season win percentage (58.0 percent). A former staffer under Rivers said that he doesn’t feel Rivers gets as much credit as he should for his offensive creativity with X’s and O’s. “I used to look at his play designs and think, ‘Oh, that puts the defense in a real tough spot,’” former Clippers video coordinator Mo Dakhil told The Athletic.
Addressing his late friend, Gregg Popovich pulled back the curtain on his strategic blueprint. “Most of the stuff that I ran in San Antonio I stole from you. And I just tweaked it because I had different players,” he admitted. Surveying the crowd, Popovich admitted to feeling ‘a little PTSD’ while looking at former on-court rivals in the audience. Yet, the atmosphere remained overwhelmingly warm as he emphasized Nelson’s immense impact on everyone in the room. The 77-year-old tactician described Nelson as a uniquely special person whose gruff exterior masked a heart ‘bigger than the moon’ and ‘soft as marshmallows’, perfectly capturing the duality of a fierce competitor who remained a gentle, generous soul to those he loved.
Gregg Popovich told his boss, Golden State Warriors coach Don Nelson, that he had a five-year deal on the table with annual raises of $50,000. Popovich told Nelson he loved working for him in Golden State and wasn’t sure whether he should take it. “He said, ‘You big dummy, Poppo, you’re going back there,’” Popovich recalled. “‘And this is how you are going to do it. Call them back and say, ‘Add $50,000 to my first year. From there, $50,000 on top of that.’ So at the end, after five years, you will have made $250,000 more. That will pay for your house.’” Popovich was one of nearly a dozen Basketball Hall of Famers who gathered inside the Preston Hollow Presbyterian Church on Thursday for a ceremony to honor Nelson, who died Sunday at 86.
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C.J. Watson: Rest in heaven Nellie 🙏🏾 You called me up from the D-League and gave me my first shot in the league. Told me straight up: “We like you — I’m gonna throw you in there and see what you got.” Then you did. Small ball started with you. Some of my best years came under your system.
Golden State Warriors: “When I think of Nellie, I’ll always think of the ‘We Believe’ team and our incredible run in 2007. He understood what made us go and made us believe we could beat anybody, ultimately helping us make history as the first No. 8 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed in a seven-game series. That time in my life and career was truly special, and Nellie was a huge part of making it possible. I’ll always be grateful for the memories, the laughs, and everything we accomplished together. I’m thinking of Joy and the entire Nelson family, remembering the happiness he brought to so many.” - Baron Davis
Steve Nash: There are endless ways to describe Nellie. Coach. Teacher. Innovator. Free spirit. He was larger than life. What always inspired me about Nellie was that he could see things differently than everyone else. A new angle, concept, match up and he wasn’t afraid to go against the grain. I was one of those things he saw differently. When I made my first all star game it was zero surprise to him. He was almost rolling his eyes at me and gave me a look like ‘oh, now you believe?!’ He got me there. So to Nellie, the coach I played for the most and who developed me, THANK YOU for seeing in me what I wasn’t even sure of myself.