Lenny Wilkens, a Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame inductee as both a player and coach, died Sunday at 88.
Wilkens, who played 15 years in the NBA — including four seasons as a player-coach — was one of just five men to be enshrined in the Hall of Fame in both roles. The others were John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn and Bill Russell.
“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. “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.”
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Wilkens made nine NBA All-Star teams during his playing career and twice led the league in assists. Standing just over six feet tall, he broke into the league after a standout career at Providence College, where he helped lead the Friars to their first NIT appearance in 1959 and an NIT finals berth in 1960.
A two-time All-American at Providence, Wilkens became the first player in school history to have his jersey retired, in 1996.
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Wilkens was selected by the then–St. Louis Hawks in the first round of the 1960 NBA Draft. He played only 20 games in his second season after serving in the military, but upon returning full time, he became a cornerstone for the Hawks.
St. Louis reached the playoffs six straight seasons with Wilkens, a Brooklyn native who didn’t play basketball in high school until his senior year. He made five All-Star teams during that span and averaged 15.5 points, 5.5 assists and 4.9 rebounds over 555 games in eight seasons with the Hawks.
The Hawks traded Wilkens to the expansion Seattle SuperSonics in 1968, where he flourished. He averaged 22.4 points, 8.2 assists and 6.2 rebounds in his first season, then led the league in assists (9.1) the following year.
Before the 1969-70 season, SuperSonics general manager Dick Vertlieb named Wilkens player-coach. He helped set the tone on and off the court, guiding Seattle to its first winning season in his third year in the dual role.
The smooth left-hander continued to rack up assists in Seattle, then spent two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers and finished his career with the Portland Trail Blazers in 1974-75.
Wilkens ranks 17th on the NBA’s all-time assists list with 7,211 across 1,077 games.
He also served as a player-coach in Portland before moving full time into coaching. Wilkens later returned to Seattle for the 1977-78 season, leading the SuperSonics to the NBA Finals, where they defeated the Washington Bullets for the franchise’s first and only championship.
Wilkens went on to coach the Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks, compiling a 1,332-1,155 record (.536) over 2,487 regular-season games. His playoff record stood at 80-98.
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