June 9, 2025 • 7 mins
“Is it ever too late to burn a bridge if you’re already living on an island in Maui?”In this unforgettable episode of The Ben and Skin Show, the crew dives deep into the return of NBA legend Don Nelson to Dallas, and things get hilariously real. From rocking Luka Doncic’s new Nike kicks in protest to casually admitting to “illegal scouting tactics” with a wink and a smile, Nellie proves that at 85—and as a full-time weed farmer—he’s got zero filters and even fewer regrets.🎙️ Ben Rogers, Jeff “Skin” Wade, Kevin “KT” Turner, and Krystina Ray unpack the wildest moments from Nellie’s press conference, including:
- 🏀 Nellie’s protest fashion statement: “I’m wearing Luka’s shoes… in protest of the trade. Tremendous mistake by the Dallas franchise.”
- 😂 The Dirk Nowitzki smuggling operation: How Donnie and Nellie hid Dirk from NBA scouts in a YMCA to keep him under wraps.
- 🌴 Life as a Maui weed farmer: Nellie’s new lifestyle and why he’s now the most unfiltered man in basketball history.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Eagle In This segment is brought to you by a
Twisted Root Burger Company. Ben and I've talked about Twisted
Root a lot over the years. We think it's a
really cool place. I mean, delicious burgers, great food, but
they have a cool vibe too. You know, they tapped
into pop culture and then they call you out by
the name of a famous person. It's just really fun.
It's total vibe. But the food is really what it's
all about. And they've spent the last six months retooling
(00:21):
their menu and they are back with a brand new
menu and it is kick ass. You know Ben joked
about Kraft Burgers. These are genuinely craft burgers, including a
build your own burger menu where you pick everything topping's condiments. Hell,
they even have custom pickles. You're gonna love it. It's
a great vibe, it's great food. It's all over the Metroplex, Carrollton,
(00:42):
cup Hell, Deep Element war Goo. See for yourself Twisted
Root Burger Company. But right now it's time for this.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Now it's around the sports KTD twins as.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
All the sports. Yes, all right, thank you, Steven.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So the NBA Finals is going on and one of
the things that they do, and Rick Carlisle is a
big part of this because one of Rick Carlile's mentors
was Chuck Day. But they give away like a legendary coach.
They honor a legendary coach, and this year was Don Nelson.
Old Nelly is back in town for the first time
(01:22):
since before the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And it's funny.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I have a bunch of friends that were sending me
pictures of Nelly and Don and just different people from
back in the day with the Mavericks because he was
like last Thursday night they all watched Game one out
at Billy Bob's and Fort Worth and Ben and Ben
and I used to be really good friends with Donnie.
And I say used to be because Donnie just kind
(01:46):
of like disappeared for a while. He had a big
falling out with the Mavericks. Well that is all settled,
and Donnie's been coming back, but he lives out in
Maui with his dad. Now wow, so they he's not
here all the time, but he does come back, has
a lot of business here as kids live here, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Donnie's involved in so much cool stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
But anyways, I knew I knew Nelly was here and
I knew this is what it was for. But then
a lot of details came out when he sat down
with Mark Stein, and then last night they actually had
the press conference with you have audio for all this.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Well, yeah, and Stein had reported, Hey, watch out for
whatever don Nelson's gonna be wearing. Yeah, because he's going
to do something to honor Lucae. So here's the press
conference here.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And Luca too, my dear friend. As a matter of fact,
I want everybody to know, I'm wearing Luca's shoes. His
new shoes from Nike just just got out in the market,
and I'm wearing them in protest for the trade from Dallas,
a tremendous mistake by the Dallas franchise to trade him,
and I want to I want everybody to know.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
That that was kind of crazy seeing that too, with
Carlisle being up there too. Yeah, just it's second weird
whorl wind that Lucas still the center of the world,
you know.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
And you know Nelly is Nelly's standing up for his
son Donnie because and this is Nelly one oh one,
my close friend Luca.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I'd be surprised if he's ever met Luca.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, he's Later, he went on to say that he
hadn't been to America in seven years, and I'm like,
so is Luca flying out to Maui to see Nellie?
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I just you know, but.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Nelly had been on the Luca train since Luca was
like thirteen, fourteen years old. Donnie had been scouting him forever.
I think I told you guys a story where I
was in Minnesota at the beginning of the season. We
knew the Mavericks were going to have a lottery pick.
They had just drafted Dennis Smith junior and it was
going to be a great draft. And I remember walking
(03:46):
up to Donnie and this would have been early December
of that basketball season, and before I even say thing,
you know, he goes, boy, we could just get our
hands on that kid over there in Slovenia. I mean
he was thinking about him back then, like they were
dialed in on Luca. So that's Nelly, you know, yeah,
supporting the team there.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
I'm glad you said, because I've got a story that
he has about Dirk and how they tried to hide
Dirk as a story we've heard before, but hearing him
tell it again's good. Okay, But I also want to
say there was another part of this. I didn't pull
this part, but he was talking about to me having
a superstar like that, you that means you have him
for life. Yeah, and how he would never And I
don't know what John Nelson's history is of, you know,
(04:27):
were there ever any big trades that might have made
him think that way? You know, because I mean a
long coaching career for he's with the MAVs.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Nelly is a He's a gambler. You can't trust anything
Nelly says. But he's lovable. I'm not taking a dump
on him, but everything is an angle for Nelly like
that was the wonderful thing about Donnie is Donnie had
some of his dad's personality, but he also had some
of his mom's personality. So I always trusted Donnie one
(04:55):
thousand percent. Nelly. I took everything he said with a
grain of salt, because man, he's lying to you as
soon as he's looking you in the eye.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
That's just the way Nelly gets down. Here's a quick
Dirk store here.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Dirk was the most talented big man I'd ever seen.
He was close to seven feet tall, and he played
like a small forward. Donny found a way to isolate
him from most of the NBA scouts, and they played
in the World Games and they trained into YMCA and
only two people are allowed in there. That was me
and Donnie. So I got a chance to watch him
for a week and nobody, no other scout could come in.
(05:27):
And I begged his friend Holger, who was with him
for his lifetime. I begged him not to go down
to San Antonio. I didn't want anybody to see him
because I liked him that much. And then he went
down and ended up scoring like thirty five and deanery
bounds or some number. And I said, oh man, we're
not going to get him. No, everybody's going to see him.
But they only saw him the one dime and he
(05:47):
started slipping in the draft. We kind of knew where
he was. We actually went from six to nine and
got him and made enough money so we were in
the black that year instead of the red.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Here's the funny thing about Nelly.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I mean, there's a lot of funny things about Nelly,
but here's the beauty of being eighty five and not
caring anymore and being a weed farmer in Maui. So
here's Nelly telling the story about how him and Donnie
did illegal stuff you know, not I mean within the
league rules. Yeah, like Donnie would not tell that story.
Nelly's like, I don't care. So what we did was illegal,
(06:21):
and a way we did it was you know, it's
just like just burning every bridge.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Who cares. Man, he's gonna get a job. Yeah. It's
amazing though.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Man, those those are both like Donnie and don both
have meant so much to me and my my sports
life here and I've told this story you know before
about going on a golf journey with Nelly and Maui
and he's just so much fun, dude, so much fun.
Congratulations to the legend don Nelson. All Right, it's been
(06:51):
in Skin Show Night at some point one the Eagle KT.
What's coming up next in this special KT segment.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
So I went to a party on Saturday night and
I won over the entire party by doing this.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
All right, coming up next, KT Parties
Eagle In This segment is brought to you by a
Twisted Root Burger Company. Ben and I've talked about Twisted
Root a lot over the years. We think it's a
really cool place. I mean, delicious burgers, great food, but
they have a cool vibe too. You know, they tapped
into pop culture and then they call you out by
the name of a famous person. It's just really fun.
It's total vibe. But the food is really what it's
all about. And they've spent the last six months retooling
(00:21):
their menu and they are back with a brand new
menu and it is kick ass. You know Ben joked
about Kraft Burgers. These are genuinely craft burgers, including a
build your own burger menu where you pick everything topping's condiments. Hell,
they even have custom pickles. You're gonna love it. It's
a great vibe, it's great food. It's all over the Metroplex, Carrollton,
(00:42):
cup Hell, Deep Element war Goo. See for yourself Twisted
Root Burger Company. But right now it's time for this.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Now it's around the sports KTD twins as.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
All the sports. Yes, all right, thank you, Steven.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
So the NBA Finals is going on and one of
the things that they do, and Rick Carlisle is a
big part of this because one of Rick Carlile's mentors
was Chuck Day. But they give away like a legendary coach.
They honor a legendary coach, and this year was Don Nelson.
Old Nelly is back in town for the first time
(01:22):
since before the pandemic.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And it's funny.
Speaker 1 (01:25):
I have a bunch of friends that were sending me
pictures of Nelly and Don and just different people from
back in the day with the Mavericks because he was
like last Thursday night they all watched Game one out
at Billy Bob's and Fort Worth and Ben and Ben
and I used to be really good friends with Donnie.
And I say used to be because Donnie just kind
(01:46):
of like disappeared for a while. He had a big
falling out with the Mavericks. Well that is all settled,
and Donnie's been coming back, but he lives out in
Maui with his dad. Now wow, so they he's not
here all the time, but he does come back, has
a lot of business here as kids live here, et cetera.
Speaker 3 (02:01):
Donnie's involved in so much cool stuff.
Speaker 1 (02:03):
But anyways, I knew I knew Nelly was here and
I knew this is what it was for. But then
a lot of details came out when he sat down
with Mark Stein, and then last night they actually had
the press conference with you have audio for all this.
Speaker 4 (02:16):
Well, yeah, and Stein had reported, Hey, watch out for
whatever don Nelson's gonna be wearing. Yeah, because he's going
to do something to honor Lucae. So here's the press
conference here.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
And Luca too, my dear friend. As a matter of fact,
I want everybody to know, I'm wearing Luca's shoes. His
new shoes from Nike just just got out in the market,
and I'm wearing them in protest for the trade from Dallas,
a tremendous mistake by the Dallas franchise to trade him,
and I want to I want everybody to know.
Speaker 4 (02:49):
That that was kind of crazy seeing that too, with
Carlisle being up there too. Yeah, just it's second weird
whorl wind that Lucas still the center of the world,
you know.
Speaker 1 (02:59):
And you know Nelly is Nelly's standing up for his
son Donnie because and this is Nelly one oh one,
my close friend Luca.
Speaker 3 (03:11):
I'd be surprised if he's ever met Luca.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, he's Later, he went on to say that he
hadn't been to America in seven years, and I'm like,
so is Luca flying out to Maui to see Nellie?
Speaker 3 (03:22):
I just you know, but.
Speaker 1 (03:25):
Nelly had been on the Luca train since Luca was
like thirteen, fourteen years old. Donnie had been scouting him forever.
I think I told you guys a story where I
was in Minnesota at the beginning of the season. We
knew the Mavericks were going to have a lottery pick.
They had just drafted Dennis Smith junior and it was
going to be a great draft. And I remember walking
(03:46):
up to Donnie and this would have been early December
of that basketball season, and before I even say thing,
you know, he goes, boy, we could just get our
hands on that kid over there in Slovenia. I mean
he was thinking about him back then, like they were
dialed in on Luca. So that's Nelly, you know, yeah,
supporting the team there.
Speaker 4 (04:07):
I'm glad you said, because I've got a story that
he has about Dirk and how they tried to hide
Dirk as a story we've heard before, but hearing him
tell it again's good. Okay, But I also want to
say there was another part of this. I didn't pull
this part, but he was talking about to me having
a superstar like that, you that means you have him
for life. Yeah, and how he would never And I
don't know what John Nelson's history is of, you know,
(04:27):
were there ever any big trades that might have made
him think that way? You know, because I mean a
long coaching career for he's with the MAVs.
Speaker 1 (04:33):
Nelly is a He's a gambler. You can't trust anything
Nelly says. But he's lovable. I'm not taking a dump
on him, but everything is an angle for Nelly like
that was the wonderful thing about Donnie is Donnie had
some of his dad's personality, but he also had some
of his mom's personality. So I always trusted Donnie one
(04:55):
thousand percent. Nelly. I took everything he said with a
grain of salt, because man, he's lying to you as
soon as he's looking you in the eye.
Speaker 3 (05:02):
That's just the way Nelly gets down. Here's a quick
Dirk store here.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Dirk was the most talented big man I'd ever seen.
He was close to seven feet tall, and he played
like a small forward. Donny found a way to isolate
him from most of the NBA scouts, and they played
in the World Games and they trained into YMCA and
only two people are allowed in there. That was me
and Donnie. So I got a chance to watch him
for a week and nobody, no other scout could come in.
(05:27):
And I begged his friend Holger, who was with him
for his lifetime. I begged him not to go down
to San Antonio. I didn't want anybody to see him
because I liked him that much. And then he went
down and ended up scoring like thirty five and deanery
bounds or some number. And I said, oh man, we're
not going to get him. No, everybody's going to see him.
But they only saw him the one dime and he
(05:47):
started slipping in the draft. We kind of knew where
he was. We actually went from six to nine and
got him and made enough money so we were in
the black that year instead of the red.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Here's the funny thing about Nelly.
Speaker 1 (05:59):
I mean, there's a lot of funny things about Nelly,
but here's the beauty of being eighty five and not
caring anymore and being a weed farmer in Maui. So
here's Nelly telling the story about how him and Donnie
did illegal stuff you know, not I mean within the
league rules. Yeah, like Donnie would not tell that story.
Nelly's like, I don't care. So what we did was illegal,
(06:21):
and a way we did it was you know, it's
just like just burning every bridge.
Speaker 3 (06:25):
Who cares. Man, he's gonna get a job. Yeah. It's
amazing though.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Man, those those are both like Donnie and don both
have meant so much to me and my my sports
life here and I've told this story you know before
about going on a golf journey with Nelly and Maui
and he's just so much fun, dude, so much fun.
Congratulations to the legend don Nelson. All Right, it's been
(06:51):
in Skin Show Night at some point one the Eagle KT.
What's coming up next in this special KT segment.
Speaker 4 (06:56):
So I went to a party on Saturday night and
I won over the entire party by doing this.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
All right, coming up next, KT Parties
Popular Podcasts
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
24/7 News: The Latest
The latest news in 4 minutes updated every hour, every day.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.