Lenny Wilkens, a Hall of Fame player and coach whose quiet leadership and exceptional court sense made him one of basketball’s most respected figures, died Sunday. He was 88.
A left-handed playmaker just under 6 feet tall, Wilkens enjoyed a 15-year NBA playing career in which he was a nine-time All-Star and led the league in assists twice. He spent four seasons as a player-coach — three with the Seattle SuperSonics and one with the Portland Trail Blazers — before embarking on a long full-time coaching career.
As a coach, Wilkens won 1,332 games and holds the record for most games coached in NBA history, 2,487. He led the Seattle SuperSonics to the franchise’s only NBA championship in 1979 and was named NBA Coach of the Year in 1994. He also coached the U.S. Olympic team to gold in 1996. Wilkens coached seven NBA franchises during his career: the SuperSonics, Trail Blazers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks, and remains one of the most prolific winners in league history.
Wilkens is one of only five men enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player (inducted 1989) and a coach (inducted 1998), joining John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn and Bill Russell. He was also honored as an assistant coach for the 1992 Olympic “Dream Team” in 2010.
Born and raised in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Wilkens lost his father at age 5 and grew up in modest circumstances; his mother worked in a candy factory. He didn’t play on his high school team until his senior year. A parish priest urged Providence College to offer him a scholarship, and Wilkens became the Friars’ first big star — a two-time All-American who led Providence to its first NIT appearance in 1959 and to the NIT finals in 1960. Providence retired his No. 14 in 1996, and he was a member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame’s inaugural class in 2006.
Selected in the first round of the 1960 NBA draft by the St. Louis Hawks, Wilkens missed much of his second season because of military service but returned to help lead the Hawks to six straight playoff appearances. Traded to the new Seattle franchise in 1968, he averaged 22.4 points, 8.2 assists and 6.2 rebounds in his first Sonics season and became the team’s player-coach the following year. He was later traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, where he continued to shine as a player, and finished his playing career as player-coach of the Trail Blazers in 1974-75 before focusing solely on coaching.
Wilkens returned to Seattle as coach in 1977-78 and took the Sonics to the NBA Finals that season; they lost in seven games but returned in 1979 to beat the Washington Bullets for the title. Known for emphasizing balance and complementary rosters, he often guided teams without marquee superstars to consistent, well-prepared performances. “I’ve always believed you need balance,” he said. “It’s not that I don’t want a star — I’ll always take a star — but even if you have a star, it’s important to surround him with the right kind of complementary players.”
Peers and successors lauded Wilkens for his leadership off the court as well. NBA commissioner Adam Silver called him “one of the game’s most respected ambassadors,” noting Wilkens was named among the league’s 75 greatest players and 15 greatest coaches. Rick Carlisle praised Wilkens’ advocacy during his long tenure as president of the National Basketball Coaches Association, citing his work on pensions, benefits and coach representation. Former players and coaches, including Steve Kerr and Detlef Schrempf, remembered him as a leader, mentor and community figure.
In 1995 Wilkens became the NBA’s all-time wins leader at the time, briefly surpassing Red Auerbach before others later passed him. He once celebrated that milestone with a cigar he rarely smoked, joking it was a tribute to Auerbach.
Wilkens retired from coaching after the 2004-05 season and lived in Medina, Washington. He led the NBA Coaches Association for 17 years and his Lenny Wilkens Foundation raised millions for charitable causes in Seattle, where he remains beloved for delivering the SuperSonics’ only title.
He is survived by family and many former players, colleagues and fans who credited him with shaping teams and careers with steadiness, intelligence and dignity.
