Donnie Nelson

Donn Charles Nelson is an American basketball executive who is the previous general manager and president of basketball operations for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is the son of Hall of Fame coach Don Nelson, who has the most wins of any coach in NBA history at 1,335. In a 2007 Sports Illustrated article ranking the NBA's personnel bosses from 1 to 30, Nelson was ranked No. 2. 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, in front of Sam Presti of the Oklahoma City Thunder, who has been their general manager since 2007.