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, later bringing 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, a record that still stands.
He became a Hall of Famer as a player, as a coach, and again as part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic team, where he served as an assistant coach. Wilkens also coached the Americans to gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games.
“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.”
Wilkens was a nine-time All-Star as a player and was the first person to reach 1,000 wins as an NBA coach. He was the second person inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach.
He coached the Seattle SuperSonics to the NBA title in 1979 and remained an iconic figure in Seattle for the rest of his life, often considered a godfather of sorts for basketball in the city. Seattle lost the Sonics to Oklahoma City in 2008 and has been trying to bring an NBA team back ever 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 later surpassed by Don Nelson (1,335 wins) and Gregg Popovich (1,390 wins).
As a player, Wilkens had a 15-season career with the St. Louis Hawks, SuperSonics, Cleveland Cavaliers, and Portland Trail Blazers. He was an 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.
“Even more impressive than Lenny’s basketball accomplishments, which included two Olympic gold medals and an NBA championship, was his commitment to service—especially in his beloved community of Seattle where a statue stands in his honor,” Silver added. “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 twice led the league in assists but was also a prominent scorer. He averaged double-digit points in every season of his career except his final one (1974–75 with the Trail Blazers). His best scoring season came in 1968–69, his first with the SuperSonics, when he averaged 22.4 points, 8.2 assists, and 6.2 rebounds per game.
Leonard Wilkens was born on October 28, 1937, in New York. His basketball journey began on Brooklyn’s playgrounds and at Boys High School, a city powerhouse where one of his teammates was major league baseball star Tommy Davis. He went on to star at Providence College and was drafted by the Hawks as the sixth overall pick in 1960.
While his playing career alone would have earned him a place in the Hall of Fame, it was his coaching success and longevity that cemented his legacy.
In addition to his Basketball Hall of Fame honors, he was elected to the FIBA Hall of Fame, the U.S. Olympic Hall of Fame, the College Basketball Hall of Fame, the Providence Hall of Fame, and the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Wall of Honor.
His coaching career included two stints in Seattle totaling 11 seasons, two seasons in Portland—during one of which he continued to play, averaging 18 minutes per game—seven seasons in both Cleveland and Atlanta, three seasons in Toronto, and parts of two years with the New York Knicks.
Wilkens also holds the record for most losses in NBA coaching history with 1,155. However, his successes far outweighed setbacks.
He guided the SuperSonics to their only championship with a victory over the then Washington Bullets, a year after losing to them in the Finals.
On January 6, 1995, while coaching the Hawks, Wilkens moved into first place on the NBA’s all-time wins list by securing his 939th victory, surpassing Red Auerbach’s record. He later became the first coach to reach 1,000 career wins, a milestone since matched by nine others.
The possibility of playing and coaching simultaneously was raised before the 1969 season when Wilkens was at the home of SuperSonics general manager Dick Vertlieb, playing a leisurely game of pool.
“I thought he was crazy,” Wilkens recalled. “I kept putting him off, but he was persistent. Finally, we were getting so close to training camp, so I said, ‘What the heck, I’ll try it.’”
From there, he became increasingly enamored with coaching. In a memorable moment, Seattle trailed the Cincinnati Royals by four points with just seconds remaining when Wilkens set up a play that resulted in a dunk. Then, he instructed his players to press because the Royals were out of timeouts. The Sonics stole the inbound pass, scored again to tie the game, and went on to win in overtime.
“I was like, ‘Wow!’” Wilkens said. “I had just done something as a coach that helped us win, not as a player.”
After his coaching career ended in 2005, Wilkens returned to the Seattle area, where he lived during every offseason. He ran his foundation for decades, with its primary benefactor being the Odessa Brown Children’s Clinic in Seattle’s Central District.
He also resumed a role with the SuperSonics in 2006 as the team’s vice chairman but left the post a year later after it became clear new owner Clay Bennett intended to move the club out of Seattle.
Wilkens is survived by his wife, Marilyn; their children, Leesha, Randy, and Jamee; and seven grandchildren.
His impact on basketball, both on and off the court, remains a lasting legacy that will be remembered by fans, players, and communities alike.
https://www.latimes.com/sports/story/2025-11-09/lenny-wilkens-hall-of-famer-who-coached-the-most-games-in-nba-history-dies-at-88
