We have lost an NBA legend, one with ties to many places, and beloved among basketball fans everywhere.
Leonard Randolph Wilkens was born on October 28, 1937 in Brooklyn. One of New York City’s greatest basketball players, Lenny Wilkens starred for Brooklyn's Boys High School, where he was a basketball teammate of future baseball star Tommy Davis.
Boys High opened in a Romanesque Revival building at 832 Marcy Avenue in Bedford-Stuyvesant in 1891. Bed-Stuy was a mostly-Jewish neighborhood before World War II, and has been a mostly-black one since. In addition to Lenny and Tommy, Boys High's notable athletes included basketball players Sihugo "Si" Green, Connie Hawkins, and football quarterback and coach Allie Sherman.
Outside of sports, alumni included Congressman Emanuel Celler, Class of 1906; painter Man Ray 1908, film producer Irving Thalberg 1917, composer Aaron Copland 1918, real estate developer William Levitt 19'25, psychologist Abraham Maslow 1926, actor Norman Lloyd '32, broadcaster Howard Cosell '36, actor Lawrence Tierney '37, science fiction writer Isaac Asimov '38, jazz saxophonist Cecil Payne '40, novelist Norman Mailer '41, jazz drummer Max Roach '42, comedian Alan King '45, newspaper columnist Jack Newfield '56, singer "Little" Anthony Gourdine '59, and singer Ronnie Dyson '68.
As the name suggests, Boys High was segregated by gender, though not by race or religion. Brooklyn did have a Girls High School, also in Bed-Stuy, at 475 Nostrand Avenue. Both schools were public, but rather prestigious, and hard to get into. Girls High graduates included novelist Betty Smith 1914, singer Lena Horne '35, actress Rita Hayworth '36, actress Carol Bruce '37, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm '42, actress Norma Donaldson '46, and actress Roxie Roker '47.
In 1975, the schools were merged into Boys and Girls High School, and moved to a new facility at 1700 Fulton Street. Graduates of the new version include basketball player Dwayne "the Pearl" Washington '82 and rapper John "Fabolous" Jackson '95.
"I learned my basketball on the playgrounds of Brooklyn," Lenny Wilkens once said. "Today, being a 'playground player' is an insult. It means all you want to do is go one-on-one. It means your fundamentals stink and you don't understand the game. But the playgrounds I knew were tremendous training grounds."
Like Queens' Bob Cousy and Jersey City's Tommy Heinsohn before him, both of whom went to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts, Lenny Wilkens left New York City to play college basketball in New England, in his case, to play for Providence College. In 1960, he was named a Second Term All-American. From 1960 to 1968, he played for the St. Louis Hawks, making 5 NBA All-Star Games. In his rookie season, 1960-61, he helped them reach the NBA Finals, something the franchise has not done since.
He would not make the move to Atlanta with the Hawks in 1968. Instead, he was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics, becoming their player-coach in 1969. He was the NBA's assists leader in 1970, and the Most Valuable Player of the All-Star Game in 1971. In 1972, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers, and played his last season, 1974-75, with the Portland Trail Blazers, as player-coach that season and as head coach only the next season. All told, he was named to 9 All-Star Games, and he retired with more career assists than any player except Oscar Robertson.
The Sonics brought him back in 1977. In 1978, he led them to their 1st NBA Finals, losing to the Washington Bullets in 7 games. In 1979, he reversed that result, as the Sonics beat the Bullets in 5 games. It was the only World Championship won by a Seattle team between the Metropolitans' 1917 Stanley Cup and the Seahawks' win of Super Bowl XLVIII in 2014.
He remained with the Sonics until 1985. From 1986 to 1993, he coached the Cleveland Cavaliers. In 1993, he returned to the Hawks. On January 6, 1995, he won his 939th career regular-season game, to surpass Red Auerbach as the all-time winningest coach in NBA history. It came in a 112-90 win over the Bullets at The Omni in Atlanta. On March 1, 1996, also at The Omni, he led the Hawks past one of his former teams, the Cavs, 74-68, to become the 1st NBA head coach to win 1,000 games. (He also became the 1st to lose 1,000 games.) Later that year, with the Olympics in Atlanta, he coached the U.S. team to win the Gold Medal.
In 2000, he left the Hawks, and became head coach of the Toronto Raptors, lasting 3 years. In the 2004-05 season, he became one in a long line of coaches unable to turn James Dolan's New York Knicks into a championship team. It turned out to be his last coaching job, with a final record of 1,332-1155, a .536 winning percentage. He has since been surpassed in wins only by Gregg Popovich with 1,390 and Don Nelson with 1,335.
He returned to the Sonics in a management role. One of the oddities of his career is that the Hawks traded him immediately before moving to Atlanta in 1968, and he resigned his executive's position with the Sonics as they moved to become the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008.
Providence retired his Number 14, and the Sonics retired his Number 19, and in each case he was the 1st on the team to be so honored. Along with John Wooden and Bill Sharman, he is one of just 3 people elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame as player and elected again a coach. But he tops them both, and everyone else, by having been elected a 3rd time, as an assistant coach on the 1992 U.S. Olympic "Dream Team," which in 2010 was elected to the Hall in its entirety.
He was also named, in 1996, as part of the NBA's 50th Anniversary celebrations, as one of its 50 Greatest Players and one of its 10 Greatest Coaches, the only man to receive both honors. In 2021, he was named to the NBA's 75th Anniversary 75 Greatest Players.
In 1962, he married Marilyn Reed. They had 3 children: Leesha, Randy and Jamie, leading to 7 grandchildren.
On June 28, 2025, a statue of Lenny Wilkens was dedicated outside the Climate Pledge Arena, built on the site of the Seattle Center Coliseum where he played and coached for the SuperSonics, a team that's officially been dormant since the original version was moved to become the Oklahoma city Thunder in 2008. He attended the ceremony.
It turned out to be his last public appearance. He died today, November 9, 2025, at his home in the Seattle suburb of Medina, Washington. He was 88 years old.
NBA Commissioner David Stern said:
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.
But 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. 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.
Mayor Bruce Harrell of Seattle said:
Lenny was more than just a championship coach and basketball legend – he was a community hero who made it his life’s mission to uplift and empower others. His philanthropic work with the Lenny Wilkens Foundation has benefitted thousands of youth and families in our region, a testament to his compassion and generosity.
Lenny was generous with both his time and with his kindness. From the moment I met him, Lenny quickly became a personal friend and a mentor. I’ve always felt incredibly honored to have been able to spend time with him and to learn from him, and I know there are so many others who feel the same way.
Kenny Mayne of ESPN: "My favorite player growing up, then somehow a friend later in life. His foundation looked after kids who needed a little help. Classy and kind and kept his Brooklyn accent."
Golden State Warriors coach and Chicago Bulls playing legend Steve Kerr, who played for him in Cleveland: "He was an unbelievable man. Just an incredible man."
UPDATE: On November 10, Michael Wilbon of ESPN's Pardon the Interruption pointed out that, despite having coached in the NBA over a span of 36 years, Lenny Wilkens achieved all he achieved despite only coaching 1 future Hall-of-Famer in his prime: Himself. It's not quite true: He coached Bill Walton in Portland, Dennis Johnson and Paul Westphal in Seattle, and Vince Carter in Toronto..
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