Basketball Hall of Famer and NBA legend Lenny Wilkens died Sunday at the age of 88.
“Lenny Wilkens represented the very best of the NBA—as a Hall of Fame player, Hall of Fame coach, and one of the game’s most respected ambassadors,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “He influenced the lives of countless young people as well as generations of players and coaches who considered Lenny not only a great teammate or coach but also an extraordinary mentor who led with integrity and true class.”
Wilkens had an illustrious playing career that spanned 15 seasons from 1960 to ‘75. He played for the Hawks, SuperSonics, Cavaliers and Trail Blazers. Wilkens, a talented playmaking guard, was a nine-time All-Star and led the league in assists in both the 1969-70 and 1971-72 seasons.
During the later stages of his career, Wilkens became a player-coach in Seattle and Portland. He would later become a full-time NBA coach, and won a championship with the Sonics in 1979.
His coaching career lasted even longer than his playing career, as he coached a total of 32 seasons in the NBA. In addition to the championship in 1979, Wilkens was named Coach of the Year in 1994, when he led the Hawks to a 57–25 record as the No. 1 seed in the East. No coach in NBA history has overseen more games than Wilkens (2,487), and he’s third all-time in wins with 1,332, behind only Don Nelson and Gregg Popovich.
Wilkens is one of five players ever to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, having been part of elite company that includes John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn, and Bill Russell. Wilkens was inducted as a player in 1989, and later as a coach in 1998. He was inducted for a third time in 2010 as an assistant coach for his work with the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, the iconic “Dream Team.”
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