On This Day: Lenny Wilkens Sets New Regular Season Win Record For NBA Coach

For former NBA players with an eye for mentorship, no other job gets them closer to being back on the floor than being a head coach, but few others did it as well as Lenny Wilkens.

January 6, 1995 is a significant date in the NBA's history as Wilkens recorded his 939th victory to establish himself as the all-time record for most wins by a head coach—breaking the record once held by Boston Celtics legend Red Auerbach.

Drafted sixth overall in the 1960 NBA draft by the St. Louis Hawks (now based in Atlanta), Wilkens appeared in 555 games for them over the course of eight seasons and averaged 15.5 points alongside 5.5 assists.

He was subsequently traded to the Seattle Supersonics ahead of the 1968-69 NBA season, where he had the best season of his 15-year career after putting up 17.8 points and 9.1 assists alongside five rebounds as a combo guard and spent a total of four seasons with them.

A little-known fact about Wilkens' career amongst younger fans was that he served as a player-coach for the Supersonics from his second year with them until his final season in 1971-72 and also in his final playing career with the Portland Trail Blazers in the 1974-75 season at 37 years old.

While a player-coach in the modern era is unheard of because of how it could drive a wedge between the player-coach and his teammates, Wilkens was never against letting his teammates shine and made sure everyone was involved in the victory.

Taking a break from head coaching duties for a season, the 13-time NBA All-Star would become the Supersonics' full-time head coach in the 1977-78 season after they fired Bob Hopkins for bringing them to a dismal 5-17 start.

With him at the helm, the Supersonics would win 11 of their first 12 games and later make a trip to the NBA Finals before losing to the Washington Bullets in seven games–a remarkable turnaround after such a slow start.

Seattle basketball and Wilkens would have their first and only taste of NBA glory when the Brooklyn native led a team bannered by NBA icons Dennis Johnson, Fred Brown, Jack Sikma and Lonnie Shelton to the championship in the 1979 Finals by exacting revenge on the Bullets in just five games.

Because of his resume, the Hawks brought him to the team as their coach ahead of the 1993-94 season and the following season was when he finally surpassed Auerbach.

For the NBA legend, breaking the record at home came at the expense of an opponent that he has a long history with–the Bullets.

His Hawks defeated them 112-95, making for a storybook moment that could not have been written any better.

He would go on to have a three-season stint with the Toronto Raptors before ending his career with the 2004-05 New York Knicks and having 1,332 regular season victories to his name and 1,412 overall wins—also the most in NBA history at the time.

For his contributions to the game, the 1993 NBA Coach of the Year was recognized as one of its original 50 Greatest Players and as part of the 75th Anniversary Team.

His record would eventually be broken by the equally legendary Don Nelson on April 7, 2010 with 1,335 wins, while Gregg Popovich became the current record holder after breaking past their marks on March 11, 2022.

A basketball icon that has sadly been forgotten by most fans due to the lack of archival footage being widely available, Wilkens' place in NBA history will never be forgotten and deserves utmost respect to this day.