David Adelman

David Leonard Adelman (born May 15, 1981) is an American professional basketball coach who is the head coach for the Denver Nuggets of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is the son of former NBA coach Rick Adelman.

Early life Adelman was born to Mary Kay and Rick Adelman in Salem, Oregon. He grew up in Bull Mountain in the Portland metro area. Adelman was a ball boy for the Portland Trail Blazers, while his father was the team's head coach. Adelman played high school basketball for Jesuit High School in Beaverton, Oregon. He was a high school teammate of future Golden State Warriors general manager Mike Dunleavy Jr. Adelman attended Southern New Hampshire University where he played college basketball for the Penmen and graduated with a bachelor's degree in history.

Coaching career

High school (2002–2011) Adelman began coaching basketball as a volunteer assistant at his alma mater Jesuit High School in Beaverton, Oregon under head coach Gene Potter from 2002 to 2006. He then became the head coach at Lincoln High School in Portland, Oregon, leading the Cardinals to three city championships (2006–07, 2009–10 and 2010–11) and reaching the 6A championships where the Cardinals lost to Grant High School.

Minnesota Timberwolves (2011–2016) In 2011, Adelman joined the Minnesota Timberwolves as a player development coach under his father Rick Adelman. After Rick retired in 2014, Adelman continued on with Minnesota, becoming the head coach for the NBA Summer League team for three seasons under Flip Saunders (who died in 2015) and then Sam Mitchell. With Adelman, Denver finished the regular season by winning each of their final three games to secure the fourth seed in the Western Conference heading into the 2025 NBA playoffs. In the first round, the Nuggets defeated the Los Angeles Clippers in seven games before losing to the top-seeded eventual NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in a seven-game conference semifinals series.

On May 22, Adelman was named the full-time head coach of the Nuggets after team executives were impressed with Adelman's coaching performance and leadership as interim head coach in the 2025 playoffs.

Personal life Adelman is one of six children. Three of his siblings also went into coaching basketball. Adelman's sister Kathy Adelman Naro is a highly regarded girls’ high school coach in Oregon. Adelman's brother Pat Adelman led the boys at Lincoln High School to the class 6A semifinals in 2018. Adelman's brother R.J. Adelman worked a range of jobs including assistant coach, scout, and video coordinator in Seattle, Sacramento, Houston, and Minnesota before being fatally struck by a car in 2018. Adelman's sisters Laura and Caitlin reside in Oregon. Led Jesuit High School to a state title in 2005. Traveled to the 2020 NBA Bubble in Orlando, Florida where the Denver Nuggets became the first team in NBA history to overcome two subsequent 3–1 deficits in the postseason. The Nuggets lost in Game 5 to the Los Angeles Lakers who went on to win the 2020 Championship. Assistant coach in the 2023 NBA Finals.