Legendary Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens Dies at 88
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Lenny Wilkens, one of only five people enshrined in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, died Sunday at age 88.
Across 15 NBA seasons on the court, the left-handed point guard was a nine-time All-Star and twice topped the league in assists. He later spent four campaigns as a player-coach — three with the Seattle SuperSonics and one with the Portland Trail Blazers — before moving permanently to the sideline.
Wilkens guided Seattle to its lone championship in 1979 and captured NBA Coach of the Year honors with the Atlanta Hawks in 1994. His 1,332 regular-season victories, collected with the SuperSonics, Trail Blazers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Hawks, Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks, remain the third-highest total in league history. He coached a record 2,487 games before retiring in 2005 and led the United States to Olympic gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“Lenny Wilkens represented the very best of the NBA,” commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement, noting that the league named him one of its 75 greatest players and 15 greatest coaches during its 75th-anniversary celebration.
From Brooklyn to Basketball Immortality
Born and raised in Brooklyn’s Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood, Wilkens did not join his high school team until his senior year. A recommendation from a parish priest earned him a scholarship to Providence College, where he became a two-time All-American and led the Friars to their first NIT appearance in 1959 and the NIT final in 1960. Providence retired his No. 14 jersey in 1996.
The St. Louis Hawks selected Wilkens sixth overall in the 1960 NBA draft. After a brief military commitment limited him to 20 games in his second season, he returned to lead St. Louis to six straight playoff berths and finished second to Wilt Chamberlain in the 1968 MVP voting. A trade to the expansion SuperSonics in 1968 produced averages of 22.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 8.2 assists during his first season in Seattle.
General manager Dick Vertlieb convinced him to add coaching duties before the 1969-70 season. Under Wilkens, Seattle logged its first winning record in 1971-72. Subsequent stops included Cleveland and Portland, where he ended his playing career in 1975 and transitioned exclusively to coaching.
Setting the Standard on the Bench
Wilkens returned to Seattle as head coach in 1977-78, replacing Bob Hopkins after a 5-17 start and steering the SuperSonics to the NBA Finals that season. Seattle won the rematch with the Washington Bullets the following year for the franchise’s only title.
He later reached the postseason with four additional franchises and on Jan. 6, 1995, passed Red Auerbach as the NBA’s all-time leader in coaching wins, a mark eventually eclipsed by Don Nelson and Gregg Popovich. When he stepped away after 32 seasons, Wilkens also held the records for most coaching losses and games coached.
Honors and Legacy
Wilkens entered the Hall of Fame as a player in 1989, as a coach in 1998, and again in 2010 as an assistant for the 1992 U.S. Olympic “Dream Team.” He spent 17 years leading the NBA Coaches Association and, through the Lenny Wilkens Foundation, raised millions of dollars for Seattle-area charities.
No information on survivors or memorial arrangements was immediately released.
Source: ESPN
