Lenny Wilkens, a Brooklyn native enshrined in the Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach, died Sunday at 88.
Wilkens starred as a player for 15 seasons after being drafted sixth overall out of Providence College in 1960.
He was a nine-time All-Star, earning the distinction with the St. Louis Hawks, Seattle SuperSonics and Cleveland Cavaliers.
He retired as a player following the 1974-75 season, with Portland, but already had started coaching, serving as a player-coach in both Seattle and Portland before becoming a full-time coach in 1975-76.
Wilkens then returned to coach the Sonics and lead the franchise to its first NBA title — and only one in Seattle — in 1979.
He also coached in Cleveland, Atlanta and Toronto before finishing up his career with his hometown Knicks, whom he led for parts of two seasons from 2004-05.
He got the Knicks to the postseason in 2004 after replacing Don Chaney but resigned following a rough start to the next season.
The Knicks released a statement, saying the organization was “deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Lenny Wilkens. His contributions to basketball as a Hall of Fame player and coach will be felt forever. Lenny’s reach extended far beyond the court by impacting the lives of so many in the community. The Knicks family send our heartfelt condolences to his family, friends and all those whose lives he touched.”
Wilkens’ road to basketball greatness was not a straight one.
He barely played at what was then Boys High School in Bedford-Stuyvesant, choosing to focus on baseball.
But he joined the team during his senior year and played well enough that he ended up at Providence.
The 6-foot-1 guard led the Friars to the NIT in 1959 and again in 1960, when they made the finals and Wilkens was named a second-team All-American.
He played eight seasons in St. Louis before being traded to Seattle in exchange for Walt Hazzard.
When he stopped coaching, Wilkens had 1,332 wins as a head coach, the most all time, having broken Red Auerbach’s record.
When he set the record, Wilkens smoked a cigar to honor Auerbach.
“He was my standard,” Wilkens said at the time. “And so that’s why I lit that cigar up. I never smoked a cigar in my life, you know, and I lit it up and almost choked, but I wanted it as a tribute to Red Auerbach.”
Wilkens now is third on the all-time wins list, having been passed by Don Nelson and Gregg Popovich, and is one of just five men to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and a coach.
He also led the US team to a gold medal at the 1996 Olympics.
In a statement, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said 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.”
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