Lenny Wilkens

Leonard Randolph Wilkens (October 28, 1937 – November 9, 2025) was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association. As a player he made nine NBA All-Star Game appearances, and as a head coach he added four more, for a combined thirteen All-Star selections. He won the 1979 NBA championship as head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics and was named NBA Coach of the Year in 1994. During the 1994–95 season, Wilkens set the record for most regular-season coaching wins in NBA history. He also served as head coach of the gold medal–winning 1996 United States men's Olympic basketball team, and was an assistant coach on the 1992 United States Olympic "Dream Team."

Wilkens was honored throughout his career and after it. He was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team in 1996 and the NBA 75th Anniversary Team in 2021, and in 2022 he was named to the list of the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History — the only person included on both NBA 75th anniversary lists as a player and as a coach. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame three times: as a player in 1989, as a coach in 1998, and in 2010 as part of the 1992 Olympic "Dream Team." He was also a 2006 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.