SEATTLE (WKBN) – Former Cleveland Cavaliers player and head coach Lenny Wilkens has died at the age of 88.
He coached 2,487 NBA games, a record that still stands.
Wilkens was the first person to reach 1,000 wins as an NBA coach and was the second person inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and coach.
He spent seven seasons as the head coach of the Cavaliers from 1986-93. He led Cleveland to a record of 316-258.
Prior to his time with Cleveland, he led the Seattle Supersonics to an NBA Title in 1979.
Wilkens later served as head coach in Atlanta, Toronto, and New York.
For his career, he owns a head coaching record of 1,332-1,155.
“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,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement Sunday. “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.”
He was inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame as a player in 1989 and as a coach in 1998.
Wilkens also won an Olympic gold medal as an assistant with Team USA in 1996.
The nine-time All-Star spent two seasons in Cleveland as a player from 1972-1974. He averaged 18.5 points, 7.7 assists, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.3 steals per game with the Cavaliers.
Comments are closed.