Lenny Wilkens, a smooth playmaker who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, died Sunday. He was 88.
In a 15-year playing career, Wilkens was an All-Star nine times and twice led the league in assists. Gifted with extraordinary court sense, Wilkens was a player-coach for four seasons, three with the Seattle SuperSonics and one with the Portland Trail Blazers, before moving full time into coaching. He led the Sonics to the 1979 NBA title and was Coach of the Year in 1994.
Wilkens won 1,332 games — third most all time — as coach of the Sonics, Trail Blazers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors and New York Knicks before he retired in 2005. He coached 2,487 games, the most in NBA history. He also won an Olympic gold medal as coach of the 1996 U.S. team.
He is one of only five men to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as both player and coach, joining John Wooden, Bill Sharman, Tom Heinsohn and Bill Russell.
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