Legendary NBA coach and former Portland Trail Blazers head coach Lenny Wilkens died at age 88, his family announced today and as reported by the Associated Press:
He coached 2,487 games in the NBA, which
is still a record. He became a Hall of Famer as a player, as a coach and again as part of the 1992 U.S. Olympic team — on which he was an assistant. Wilkens coached the Americans to gold at the Atlanta Games as well in 1996.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the following of Wilkens:
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. 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 both played for and coached the Blazers during the 1974-75 season, becoming one of only 40 people to serve as both NBA player and coach at the same time. Wilkens also coached Portland the following year after retiring as a player, averaging 16.5 points and 6.7 assists in his 15 seasons in which he made nine All-Star appearances and finished second in MVP voting to Wilt Chamberlain in the 1967-68 season.
Wilkens went on to coach the Seattle Supersonics to their only NBA championship in his second year at the helm during the 1978-79 season.
Wilkens is also “the first person to have a statue outside of Seattle’s Climate Pledge Arena” (formerly Key Arena, where the Seattle Supersonics played) according to Seattle Sports.
