Hall of Famer Lenny Wilkens, the godfather of Seattle basketball, dies at 88

By Canadian Press on November 9, 2025.

SEATTLE (AP) — Lenny Wilkens, a three-time inductee into the Basketball Hall of Fame who was enshrined as both a player and a coach, has died, his family said Sunday. He was 88.

The family said Wilkens was surrounded by loved ones when he died and did not immediately release a cause of death.

Wilkens was one of the finest point guards of his era who later brought his calm and savvy style to the sideline, first as a player-coach and then evolving into one of the game’s great coaches.

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 1996 U.S. Olympic team — which he coached to gold at the Atlanta Games.

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Tim Booth, a former Associated Press sports writer, was the principal writer of this obituary.

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AP NBA: https://apnews.com/hub/NBA

Tim Booth And Andrew Destin, The Associated Press