(Seattle) Lenny Wilkens, a three-time Basketball Hall of Fame inductee as a player and coach, has died at the age of 88, his family announced Sunday.
The family said Wilkens was surrounded by loved ones at the time of his death and did not immediately release the cause.
Wilkens was one of the best point guards of his era. He then brought his calm and experience to the sidelines, first as a player-coach, then as one of the greatest coaches in basketball history.
He directed 2,487 games in the NBA, a record that is still unmatched. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player, as a coach and again as a member of the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, with whom he served as an assistant. Wilkens also guided the Americans to a gold medal at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“Lenny Wilkens epitomized NBA excellence: a Hall of Fame player and coach, and one of the sport’s most respected ambassadors,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Sunday. So much so that four years ago, Lenny was given the unique distinction of being named among the 75 greatest players and 15 greatest coaches in league history. »
PHOTO LINDSEY WASSON, ARCHIVES ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lenny Wilkens
Wilkens was a nine-time All-Star as a player, was the first NBA head coach to reach 1,000 wins and became the second person to be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and coach.
He led the Seattle SuperSonics to the NBA title in 1979 and remained an iconic figure in that city until the end of his life, when he was often considered a sort of godfather of basketball in Seattle.
The city lost the Sonics to Oklahoma City in 2008, and has been trying to get a team back ever since. And he accomplished it all with elegance, a quality he was proud of.
“Leaders don’t shout,” Wilkens told Seattle’s KOMO News earlier this year.
Wilkens, who was voted NBA head coach of the year in 1994 with the Atlanta Hawks, retired with 1,332 wins to his name – a league record later broken by Don Nelson (1,335) and then by Gregg Popovich (1,390).
Wilkens played 15 seasons with the St. Louis Hawks, SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers. He was selected to the All-Star Game five times with the Hawks, three times with the SuperSonics and once with the Cavaliers, in 1973, at the age of 35. A statue commemorating his time with the SuperSonics was installed in front of the Climate Pledge Arena in June.
“Even more impressive than Lenny’s basketball accomplishments, including two Olympic gold medals and an NBA title, was his commitment to serving others, including in his beloved city of Seattle, where a statue was erected in his honor,” Silver said. He touched the lives of countless young people, as well as generations of players and coaches who considered Lenny not only as an exceptional teammate or coach, but also as an extraordinary mentor, a man of integrity and great class. »
Wilkens finished atop the league in assists on two occasions, but he was also a prolific scorer. He averaged more than 10 points per game in every season of his career except his last, in 1974-75, with the Trail Blazers. His best scoring season was his first with the SuperSonics, in 1968-69, averaging 22.4 points, 8.2 assists and 6.2 rebounds.
Leonard Wilkens was born on October 28, 1937, in New York. He cut his basketball teeth on the courts of Brooklyn and at a renowned high school in the city, the Boys High School. He then became a star in Providence and was selected sixth overall in the 1960 draft by the Hawks.
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