Leonard Randolph Wilkens (October 28, 1937 – November 9, 2025) was an American professional basketball player and coach in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has been inducted three times into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, first in 1989 as a player, as a coach in 1998, and in 2010 as part of the 1992 United States Olympic "Dream Team" for which he was an assistant coach. In 1996, Wilkens was named to the NBA 50th Anniversary Team, and in 2021 he was named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team. In addition, in 2022 he was also named to the list of the 15 Greatest Coaches in NBA History, being the only person to be in both NBA 75th anniversary lists as a player and as a coach. He is also a 2006 inductee into the College Basketball Hall of Fame.
Wilkens made a combined 13 NBA All-Star Game appearances as a player (nine times) and as a head coach (four times), was the 1994 NBA Coach of the Year, won the 1979 NBA championship as the head coach of the Seattle SuperSonics, and was the head coach of the Olympic gold medal–winning 1996 U.S. men's basketball team.
During the 1994–95 season, Wilkens set the record for most regular season coaching wins in NBA history, a record he held when he retired with 1,332 victories. As of February 2022, he is in third place on the list, behind Don Nelson and Gregg Popovich. Wilkens won the Chuck Daly Lifetime Achievement Award for the 2010–11 NBA season. Wilkens is also the most prolific coach in NBA history, at 2,487 regular-season games, 89 more games than Nelson, and over 400 more than any other coach, and has more losses than any other coach in NBA history, at 1,155.
Leonard Randolph Wilkens was born on October 28, 1937, in Brooklyn, New York. Wilkens grew up in the Bedford–Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. His father was African-American and his mother was Irish American. Wilkens was raised in the Catholic faith.
At Boys High School, Wilkens was a basketball teammate of longtime Major League Baseball star Tommy Davis, and played for coach Mickey Fisher.
Wilkens was a two-time All-American (1959 and 1960) at Providence College. He led the team to their first NIT appearance in 1959, and to the NIT finals in 1960. When he graduated, Wilkens was, with 1,193 points, the second-ranked scorer in Friar history (he has since dropped to 26th as of 2011). In 1996, Wilkens's No. 14 jersey was retired by the college, the first alumnus to receive such an honor. In honor of his collegiate accomplishments, Wilkens was one of the inaugural inductees into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006.
Wilkens was drafted sixth overall by the St. Louis Hawks in the 1960 NBA draft. He began his career with eight seasons with the St. Louis Hawks, who lost the finals to the Boston Celtics in his rookie season. The Hawks made the playoffs consistently with Wilkens but never again reached the finals. Wilkens placed second to Wilt Chamberlain in the 1967–1968 MVP balloting, his last with the Hawks.
Seattle SuperSonics (1968–1972)
Wilkens was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics for Walt Hazzard and spent four seasons there. He averaged 22.4 points, 6.2 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game in his first season for the SuperSonics, and was an All-Star in three of his seasons for them. He was named head coach in his second season with the team. Although the SuperSonics did not reach the playoffs while Wilkens simultaneously coached and started at point guard, their record improved each season and they won 47 games during the 1971–72 NBA season. Wilkens was dealt to the Cleveland Cavaliers before the start of the next season in a highly unpopular trade, and the SuperSonics fell to 26–56 without his leadership on the court.
Cleveland Cavaliers (1972–1974)
Wilkens played two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers from 1972 to 1974 and was named an All-Star in 1973, the final selection of his playing career. He averaged 20.5 point per game that season, the last of three seasons in which he averaged over 20+ points per game.
Portland Trail Blazers (1974–1975)
Wilkens played one season with the Portland Trail Blazers, his final season playing, when he averaged career lows in points (6.5), rebounds (1.8), shots (4.7) and minutes per game (17.9).
Wilkens scored 17,772 points during the regular season, was a nine-time NBA All-Star, and was named the 1971 NBA All-Star Game MVP in 1971. With Seattle, he led the league in assists in the 1969–70 season, and at the time of his retirement was the NBA's second all-time leader in that category, behind only Oscar Robertson. In 2021, to commemorate the NBA's 75th Anniversary The Athletic ranked their top 75 players of all time, and named Wilkens as the 75th greatest player in NBA history.
Seattle SuperSonics (1969–1972)
Wilkens became a player-coach in the closing stages of his playing career, serving both roles for the Seattle SuperSonics from 1969 to 1972. Al Bianchi had resigned as their head coach in the middle of the 1969 offseason when general manager Dick Vertlieb presented the idea to Wilkens. "I told him he was crazy", said Wilkens. “And he said 'Well, you run the show anyway'. He became the second Black coach in NBA history, joining Bill Russell, who had also been a player-coach.
Portland Trail Blazers (1974–1976)
In his one season as a player with the Portland Trail Blazers, Wilkens was a player-coach. He had been considering retiring from playing when Trail Blazers owner Herman Sarkowsky convinced him to coach the team. To Wilkens's surprise, Portland also acquried his playing rights from Cleveland. He retired from playing in 1975 and was the full-time coach of the Trail Blazers for one more season.