{"id":2085968,"date":"2026-08-10T10:00:22","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T07:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2085968"},"modified":"2026-08-10T10:00:22","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T07:00:22","slug":"dirk-nowitzki-luka-doncic-pay-tribute-to-don-nelson-you-believed-in-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2085968","title":{"rendered":"Dirk Nowitzki, Luka Don\u010di\u0107 pay tribute to Don Nelson: \u2018You believed in me\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When Dirk Nowitzki was introduced for the first time as a Dallas Maverick in June 1998, it was far from obvious he would develop into an all-time great NBA player.<\/p>\n

Nowitzki, then a 20-year-old from W\u00fcrzburg, Germany, sounded nervous as he addressed the media in English, his second language. He had a part down the middle of his hair and wore a hoop earring in his left ear. He admitted then that he still hadn\u2019t made up his mind about coming to the NBA immediately.<\/p>\n

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Earlier that month, the Mavericks had acquired Nowitzki in a draft-night trade<\/a>. Dallas selected Robert \u201cTractor\u201d Traylor at No. 6 and then sent him to the Milwaukee Bucks for Nowitzki, who was the No. 9 pick.<\/p>\n

Don Nelson and his son, Donnie, were trying to help the Mavericks emerge from some of the darkest days in franchise history in the 1990s and believed Nowitzki was talented enough to be a foundational piece in the turnaround, even if Nowitzki \u2014 who wanted to stay in Europe for another year \u2014 may not have known it himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he chooses not to play with us, which is a possibility, then we\u2019re going to have to wait,\u201d Nelson said during the post-draft news conference<\/a>. \u201cBut I think the wait will still be worth it. \u2026 We\u2019ll have a great player when he decides to join us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nelson couldn\u2019t have been more right.<\/p>\n

In 21 NBA seasons, Nowitzki won an NBA championship, was named league MVP and scored the seventh-most points in league history while revolutionizing the game as a jump-shooting 7-footer. All of it was possible because of the conviction Nelson showed in a player who wasn\u2019t even sure he was ready to compete at the game\u2019s highest level.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou didn\u2019t just draft me,\u201d Nowitzki wrote Sunday in a social media post mourning Nelson, who died Sunday at 86. \u201cYou believed in me. You saw things in my game before I ever realized I could do them.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Don<\/p>\n
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\n Don Nelson, 5-time NBA champion and pioneer of \u2018Nellie Ball\u2019 as coach, dies at 86\n <\/div>\n
\n Nelson’s 1,335 regular-season wins are second all-time in NBA history, behind only Gregg Popovich.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

Nelson won five championships as a player with the Boston Celtics and hit one of the most iconic shots<\/a> in NBA history in the 1969 NBA Finals, but he coached 31 seasons in the league, including eight with the Mavericks. Perhaps his greatest legacy was his ability to see around the corner. Nelson encouraged Nowitzki to play on the perimeter and let his gorgeous jump shot fly, a choice that helped usher in the positionless, pace-and-space style that is played today.<\/p>\n

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Nowitzki had a challenging rookie season, but in time, he helped the Mavericks become one of the NBA\u2019s most exciting teams of the early 2000s.<\/p>\n

With Nelson coaching and Nowitzki playing alongside Steve Nash, the Mavericks led the NBA in offense three straight seasons, from 2002-04. They would go as far as reaching the Western Conference finals in 2003, and although Nelson left Dallas two years later, Nowitzki\u2019s story was far from over. Nowitzki reached the NBA Finals for the first time in 2006 and won his first championship in 2011, earning NBA Finals MVP in the latter instance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve said it a million times, and I will always say it: I don\u2019t think my career could have turned out how it did without you being my first coach and giving me the freedom to play my game,\u201d Nowitzki said Sunday about Nelson, the second-winningest coach in NBA history. \u201cI can only say THANK YOU. For everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nelson coached four franchises \u2014 the Milwaukee Bucks, the Golden State Warriors, the New York Knicks and the Mavericks \u2014 across three decades. The impact he made in each stop was evident Sunday. Even players Nelson never coached paid tribute.<\/p>\n

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Luka Don\u010di\u0107, who spent the first 6 1\/2 seasons of his career with the Mavericks and was a teammate of Nowitzki\u2019s for one year, took to social media to thank Nelson for his belief in basketball talent across the globe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sad day for basketball with the passing of Don Nelson,\u201d Don\u010di\u0107 wrote on social media. \u201cI have so much respect for him and everything he did for the game, especially the way he believed in international players. I\u2019m grateful for the time I spent with him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThinking of the entire Nelson family today. I loved getting to know you, Coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

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What You Should Read Next<\/div>\n
\n \"Dirk<\/p>\n
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\n Stephen Curry, Luka Don\u010di\u0107, NBA world mourn loss of Don Nelson\n <\/div>\n
\n The NBA world mourns the loss of one of the winningest coaches in league history and a five-time champion as a player with the Celtics.\n <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a><\/p><\/div>\n

In an official team statement, the Mavericks called Nelson a \u201cbasketball innovator\u201d who made an \u201cimpact that will never be forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n

To hear Nowitzki tell it, Nelson believed in him more than he believed in himself in those early days.<\/p>\n

Nelson\u2019s big bet on a skinny kid from Germany sent Mavericks fans on a two-decade journey with Nowitzki and altered NBA history forever.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When Dirk Nowitzki was introduced for the first time as a Dallas Maverick in June 1998, it was far from obvious he would develop into an all-time great NBA player. Nowitzki, then a 20-year-old from W\u00fcrzburg, Germany, sounded nervous as he addressed the media in English, his second language. He had a part down the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2085968","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085968","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2085968"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2085968\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2085968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2085968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2085968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}