Lenny Wilkens, legendary NBA player and coach, dies at 88

Lenny Wilkens, a three-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame who was enshrined as both a player and a coach, has died, his family said Sunday. He was 88.

The family said Wilkens was surrounded by loved ones when he died and did not immediately release a cause of death.

Wilkens was one of the finest point guards of his era who later brought his calm and savvy style to the sideline, first as a player-coach and then evolving into one of the game’s great coaches.

He coached 2,487 games in the NBA, which is still a record. He became a Hall of Famer as a player, as a coach and again as part of the famous 1992 US Olympic team – on which he was an assistant. Wilkens coached the Americans to gold at the Atlanta Games as well, in 1996.

“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 Sunday. “So much so that, four years ago, Lenny received the unique distinction of being named one of the league’s 75 greatest players and 15 greatest coaches of all time.”

A memorable career as player and coach

Wilkens was a nine-time All-Star as a player, the first person to reach 1,000 wins as an NBA coach and the second person inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and coach.

He coached the Seattle SuperSonics to the NBA title in 1979 and remained iconic in that city for the rest of his life, often being considered a godfather of sorts for basketball in Seattle – which lost the Sonics to Oklahoma City in 2008 and has been trying to get a team back since.

And he did it all with grace, something he was proud of.

“Leaders don’t yell and scream,” Wilkens told Seattle’s KOMO News earlier this year.

Wilkens, the 1994 NBA coach of the year with Atlanta, retired with 1,332 coaching wins – a league record that was later passed by Don Nelson (who retired with 1,335) and then Gregg Popovich (who retired with 1,390).

Wilkens played 15 seasons with the St Louis Hawks, SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers. He was an NBA All-Star five times with St Louis, three times in Seattle and once with Cleveland in 1973 at age 35. A statue depicting his time with the SuperSonics was installed outside Climate Pledge Arena in June.

His resume as a player would have been enough to put Wilkens in consideration for the Hall of Fame. What he accomplished as a coach – both through success and longevity – cemented his legacy.

Countless other honours also came his way, including being elected to the FIBA Hall of Fame, the US Olympic Hall of Fame, the College Basketball Hall of Fame, the Providence Hall of Fame and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Wall of Honor.

His coaching stops included two stints in Seattle totalling 11 seasons, two seasons in Portland – during one of which he still played and averaged 18 minutes per game – seven seasons in both Cleveland and Atlanta, three seasons in Toronto and parts of two years with the Knicks.