Oklahoma City (AP) – The renowned temple coach, Don Nelson, was not a fan of the Dallas Mavericks eradicating Luka Doncic – and chose his shoes for match 2 of the NBA final accordingly.
Nelson arrived for the press conference the announcement as the winner of the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award, as selected by the National Basketball Coaches Association, carrying a pair of Jordan Signature sneaker of Dononic.
The reason: he showed Doncic – who he calls “my dear friend” – support.
“In fact, I want everyone to know that I wear Luka’s shoes, her new Nike shoes that have just started on the market,” said Nelson. “I wear them to protest against Dallas’ trade. Huge error in the Dallas franchise to exchange it and I want everyone to know. ”
Doncic was exchanged by Dallas at the Los Angeles Lakers this season against Anthony Davis, a superproc that the whole league found magnificent. Dallas fans have been furious for months, although some of this seems to have decreased in recent weeks with the Mavericks draft lottery and the possibility of writing Cooper Flagg n ° 1 in total later this month.
Nelson said that his philosophy on generational players is the one Red Auerbach has taught him: do not exchange these talents.
“His philosophy was when you have a great player – Bill Russell, (John) Havlicek, Sam Jones, you name them – you don’t lose this player,” said Nelson. “You keep it a lifetime. You have put its number and you honor this player. It’s my philosophy.”
Nelson has deep ties with Dallas, so his reaction to the trade Doncic is understandable. He trained the Mavericks for eight seasons and his son, Donnie Nelson, was a Dallas executive from 2005 to 2021.
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