59 Facts About Dominique Wilkins

1.

In 2006, Dominique Wilkins was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

2.

Dominique Wilkins was born in Paris while his father was stationed there as an airman in the US Air Force.

3.

Dominique Wilkins has a younger brother, Gerald Wilkins, who played in the NBA, mainly for the New York Knicks.

4.

Dominique Wilkins's family moved to Dallas and Baltimore before settling in Washington, North Carolina, where he attended Washington High School.

5.

Dominique Wilkins was the back-to-back MVP for the team's consecutive Class 3-A State Championships.

6.

Dominique Wilkins was in the "Faces in the Crowd" section of Sports Illustrated while in high school for a performance in a game vs a higher classification school in which he scored 48 points, had 27 rebounds, 9 dunks, and 8 blocks.

7.

Dominique Wilkins then starred in the McDonald's All-American Game, the Capital Classic, the Kentucky Derby Festival Classic, and the Dapper Dan Classic all-star games.

8.

Dominique Wilkins had 16 points and 12 rebounds in the McDonald's game, 26 points in the Capital Classic, and 22 points in the Derby Classic.

9.

Dominique Wilkins averaged 21.6 points a game over his Bulldogs career and was named SEC Men's Basketball Player of the Year in 1981.

10.

Dominique Wilkins was selected third overall by the Utah Jazz in the 1982 NBA draft.

11.

However, Dominique Wilkins was not willing to play in Utah; the team wanted him to play power forward, while he wanted to play small forward.

12.

Dominique Wilkins was instrumental in the Hawks' prominence in the 1980s, when the club recorded four consecutive 50-win seasons during the decade.

13.

Dominique Wilkins's nickname was "The Human Highlight Film" for his athletic ability and highlight reel dunks.

14.

Dominique Wilkins's trademark dunk was a powerful one- or two-handed windmill dunks he used to capture the slam dunk contest titles in 1985 and 1990.

15.

Dominique Wilkins is one of five players whose jerseys have been retired by the Hawks.

16.

Dominique Wilkins was selected third overall by the Utah Jazz in the 1982 NBA draft.

17.

Dominique Wilkins went on to finish the season with a 27.4 scoring average, good for sixth in the NBA.

18.

Dominique Wilkins ranked second on the Hawks in rebounding and steals.

19.

Dominique Wilkins shot better than 80 percent from the free throw line for the first of 10 consecutive seasons.

20.

Dominique Wilkins was an NBA All-Star for the first time and was voted to the All-NBA First Team at the end of the season.

21.

Dominique Wilkins failed in his bid to repeat as NBA Slam-Dunk champion, his competition coming from an unlikely source.

22.

Dominique Wilkins finished the year second in the league in scoring to Michael Jordan's 37.1 points per game.

23.

Dominique Wilkins averaged 26.8 points during the postseason, the second of six straight playoffs in which he would average at least 20 points.

24.

Dominique Wilkins averaged 30.7 points for the Hawks, but Jordan bested him at 35.0.

25.

Dominique Wilkins earned a berth on the All-NBA Second Team and became the first Hawks player to be named NBA Player of the Week three times in a season.

26.

Dominique Wilkins finished with 47 points and Bird had 34-with 20 of his points tallied in the fourth quarter.

27.

Dominique Wilkins averaged 26.7 points to finish fifth in the NBA scoring race.

28.

Dominique Wilkins registered a career-high 265 assists while developing a three-point shot he would use more and more in the later stages of his career.

29.

Dominique Wilkins was selected to the All-NBA Second Team for the third time in his career.

30.

Dominique Wilkins averaged 20.8 points in the five games, but shot.

31.

Dominique Wilkins scored the 20,000th point of his career, becoming only the 16th player at the time to reach that plateau.

32.

Dominique Wilkins scored an average of 27.7 points per game in the first month of the season.

33.

Dominique Wilkins returned to rack up 29.4 points per game on.

34.

Dominique Wilkins had developed into a full-fledged three-point threat, hitting 120 of 316 attempts from long range to shatter his previous career bests.

35.

Dominique Wilkins was later selected to the All-NBA Second Team.

36.

Dominique Wilkins showed no signs of fading in his 12th NBA season, even after a tumultuous midseason trade.

37.

Dominique Wilkins left Atlanta as the team's all-time leading scorer with 23,292 points.

38.

Dominique Wilkins concluded the season with 24,019 career points, placing ninth on the NBA's all-time list.

39.

Dominique Wilkins holds the honor of scoring the Celtics final point at the old Boston Garden, before it closed in 1995, in their game four loss to the Magic.

40.

Unhappy with his role on a rebuilding Celtics team, in August 1995, Dominique Wilkins joined Panathinaikos of the Greek League, signing a two-year contract worth US$7 million that meant a US$3.5 million net sum per year in salary, at the time the richest deal for a professional basketball player outside the NBA.

41.

Dominique Wilkins's club-provided accommodation in the city included a four-story, marbled villa of his choosing, a maid, two cars, while even his Greek taxes were paid for him by the club.

42.

Dominique Wilkins's performances earned him the Final Four MVP award.

43.

Dominique Wilkins won the Greek Cup with Panathinaikos, and was named the Cup Final MVP.

44.

The suit further cites four examples of Dominique Wilkins leaving the team without permission to attend to injuries or personal matters, including the one three days before the fifth and decisive game of the Greek Basketball Championships described in the lawsuit as "Dominique Wilkins deserting the team and creating confusion on the part of his teammates".

45.

In Dallas in 1986, a Jordan-Dominique Wilkins rematch was put on hold, since Jordan was injured.

46.

On his third and final attempt, Dominique Wilkins's completed a thunderous windmill dunk from the left side.

47.

Dominique Wilkins received a standing ovation from players and fans in attendance, but was awarded a low score of 45.

48.

In 1990 Dominique Wilkins made his final appearance in the Slam Dunk Contest, going up against new promising stars such as Kenny Smith, Scottie Pippen and Kenny Walker.

49.

Dominique Wilkins defeated Kenny Smith of the Sacramento Kings in the final round.

50.

Since 2004, Dominique Wilkins has served as the Hawks' Vice President of Basketball.

51.

Dominique Wilkins is responsible for advising the Hawks's senior management team on basketball-related issues and is a goodwill ambassador for the community.

52.

Dominique Wilkins serves as a color analyst for Hawks games on Bally Sports, pairing with long-time play-by-play announcer Bob Rathbun.

53.

Dominique Wilkins was a judge in the 2008 NHL All-Star Game Breakaway Challenge, which was held in Atlanta.

54.

In 2009 Dominique Wilkins participated in the McDonald's All-Star Celebrity Game during NBA All-Star Weekend and in the 2009 NBA Asia Challenge against a team of Philippine Basketball Association All-Stars.

55.

Dominique Wilkins led all scorers with 28 points in 20 minutes of play.

56.

Michel claimed that Dominique Wilkins owed him money for a suit provided to Dominique Wilkins.

57.

Recently Dominique Wilkins released the first of his private label wines under the Dominique Wilkins Private Reserve label.

58.

Dominique Wilkins took an interest in fine wines while playing professionally in Italy at the end of his career and owning a private label was one of his long-term goals.

59.

On March 6,2015, the Atlanta Hawks organization unveiled a statue of Dominique Wilkins that sits in front of then-titled Philips Arena, and now State Farm Arena.