Leonard Randolph Wilkens was born on October 28,1937 and is an American former basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association.
26 Facts About Lenny Wilkens
2.
Lenny Wilkens has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player, as a coach in 1998, and in 2010 as part of the 1992 United States Olympic "Dream Team," for which he was an assistant coach.
3.
In 1996, Lenny Wilkens was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team, and in 2021 he was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.
4.
Lenny Wilkens is a 2006 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
5.
Lenny Wilkens was a combined 13-time NBA All-Star as a player and as a head coach, was the 1993 NBA Coach of the Year, won the 1979 NBA championship as the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics, and an Olympic gold medal as the head coach of the 1996 US men's basketball team.
6.
Lenny Wilkens is the most prolific coach in NBA history, at 2,487 regular-season games, 89 more games than Nelson, and over 400 more than any other coach, and has more losses than any other coach in NBA history, at 1,155.
7.
Lenny Wilkens's father was African American and his mother was Irish American.
8.
At Boys High School, Lenny Wilkens was a basketball teammate of longtime Major League Baseball star Tommy Davis, and played for coach Mickey Fisher.
9.
Lenny Wilkens was a two-time All-American at Providence College.
10.
Lenny Wilkens led the team to their first NIT appearance in 1959, and to the NIT finals in 1960.
11.
When he graduated, Lenny Wilkens was, with 1,193 points, the second-ranked scorer in Friar history.
12.
In honor of his collegiate accomplishments, Lenny Wilkens was one of the inaugural inductees into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
13.
Lenny Wilkens was drafted sixth overall by the St Louis Hawks in the 1960 NBA draft.
14.
Lenny Wilkens began his career with eight seasons with the St Louis Hawks, who lost the finals to the Boston Celtics in his rookie season.
15.
Lenny Wilkens was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Walt Hazzard and spent four seasons there.
16.
Lenny Wilkens averaged 22.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game in his first season for the SuperSonics, and was an All-Star in three of his seasons for them.
17.
Lenny Wilkens was named head coach in his second season with the team.
18.
Lenny Wilkens scored 17,772 points during the regular season, was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and was named the 1971 NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1971.
19.
Lenny Wilkens retired from playing in 1975 and was the full-time coach of the Trail Blazers for one more season.
20.
The SuperSonics won 11 of their first 12 games under Lenny Wilkens and made the playoffs in back-to-back years, losing in seven games to the Washington Bullets in the 1978 NBA Finals before returning to the 1979 NBA Finals and defeating the Washington Bullets in five games for their first and only NBA title.
21.
Lenny Wilkens coached in Seattle for eight seasons, winning his only NBA championship in 1979.
22.
Lenny Wilkens would go on to coach Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto and New York.
23.
On July 6,2007, Lenny Wilkens resigned from the Sonics organization.
24.
Lenny Wilkens later worked at Northwest FSN Studio as a college basketball analyst and occasionally appears on College Hoops Northwest at game nights.
25.
Since 1962, Lenny Wilkens has been married to Marilyn Reed, with whom he has a son, Randy.
26.
Lenny Wilkens is the founder of the Lenny Wilkens Foundation for Children and lives in Medina, Washington.