Twitter Went Nuts When Don Nelson Showed Up At The Hall Of Fame Looking Nearly Unrecognizable

Legendary NBA coach Don Nelson has mostly stayed out of the spotlight since his retirement from basketball. By his own accounts, he leads a pretty quiet life these days on his farm in Maui where he grows weed and hangs out with Woody Harrelson and Willie Nelson. No, really. That’s what he does.

But Nellie was coaxed out of his hermitage so he could attend the annual Naismith Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Springfield on Friday night, where he would help honor one of his former players, Steve Nash, who joins the ranks of fellow inductees Jason Kidd, Grant Hill, and many others for their enshrinement.

So it came as a little bit of a shock when he showed up looking, to put it mildly, nearly unrecognizable to the man we remember stalking the sidelines for the Mavs and Warriors during his day.

Needless to say, Twitter had jokes. Many of them were just a slight variation on the theme of Nellie looking more like a mafia don than a retired NBA coach, but there were a handful of other quality gags sprinkled in as well. We’ve compiled our personal favorites below, starting with another of his former players, Dirk Nowitzki, to help kick us off. Please enjoy. Otherwise, you might wake up next to a severed horse head.

https://twitter.com/JoeyDevine/status/1038181966707798017

https://twitter.com/KCar113/status/1038218932363120641