Phoenix Sun assistant coach Donn Nelson resigned Friday and accepted an offer to become his father's successor as coach of the Dallas Mavericks in the 2000-01 season.
The younger Nelson will be Dallas' scouting director the rest of this season, an assistant coach the next two years and head coach the following season.
"I guess I just made my dad the interim coach," he joked before the Mavericks-Suns game.
Don Nelson, who was hired as the Mavericks' general manager Feb. 7, fired Coach Jim Cleamons on Dec. 4 and took over on the bench. On Wednesday, he received Sun President Jerry Colangelo's permission to offer his son a job.
Donn Nelson's five-year contract had a clause that allowed him to leave to become a head coach.
Sun Coach Danny Ainge wouldn't let Nelson help coach Friday's game.
"I just looked at him differently. He's a Dallas Maverick," Ainge said.
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Patrick Ewing, the New York Knicks' leading scorer, thinks he will be able to play again this season, despite undergoing what was termed season-ending wrist surgery two weeks ago.