Matthew Nielsen
Matthew Peter Nielsen (born 3 February 1978) is an Australian professional basketball coach and former player who currently serves as an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He served as an assistant coach for the Perth Wildcats of the National Basketball League (NBL) from 2015 to 2019. Early life. Born and raised in the Sydney suburb of Penrith, Nielsen attended St Marys Senior High School where, three times a week, he needed permission to leave early in order to train with the Sydney Kings as a development player. As a 17 -year-old in 1995, Nielsen appeared in two games for the Kings before moving to Canberra in 1996 to attend the Australian Institute of Sport. Professional career. In 1997, Nielsen returned to the Sydney Kings and won the NBL Rookie of the Year Award. He played a further seven seasons with the Kings and helped the club win championships in 2003 and 2004. In 244 career games for the Kings over nine seasons, he averaged 17.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 1.5 blocks per game. In 2004, Nielsen began a decorated European career playing for PAOK Thessaloniki  in Greece, Lietuvos Rytas in Lithuania, Valencia in Spain, Olympiacos Piraeus also in Greece, and Khimki in Russia. On 10 October 2013, Nielsen was named in the Sydney Kings 25th Anniversary Team. National team career. Nielsen won the gold medal at the 1997 FIBA Under-21 World Championship with Australia's junior national team. He was also a member of the senior men's Australian national basketball team. With Australia's senior national team, he won gold medals at the 2001 Goodwill Games, the 2003 FIBA Oceanian Championship, and the 2005 FIBA Oceania Championship. He represented Australia at the 2004, 2008  and 2012 Olympics. Coaching career. Clubs. During the 2013–14 NBL season, Nielsen served as a big-man coach for the Perth Wildcats. In 2014, Nielsen joined the San Antonio Spurs coaching staff in a player development role, on a contract that ran through to the end of the 2015 NBA Summer League. On 29 July 2015, Nielsen returned to the Perth Wildcats, signing with the club as an assistant coach ahead of the 2015–16 NBL season. On 10 April 2019, after three championships in four seasons, Nielsen parted ways with the Wildcats in order to pursue coaching opportunities in the  United States. On 5 November 2019, Nielsen was appointed assistant coach of the Austin Spurs of the NBA G League. On 10 November 2020, he was promoted to head coach of the Spurs. On 8 September 2021, Nielsen was appointed assistant coach of the San Antonio Spurs. National team. On 8 December 2020, Nielsen was named as assistant coach of the Australian senior men's national team under head coach Brian Goorjian.