Category: Olympics

Lenny Wilkens, whose Hall of Fame basketball career as a player and coach included being the head coach of the 1996 U.S. Olympic men's team, has died at age 88.

Wilkens was a coach for the first two U.S. Olympic teams to include NBA players in 1992 (one of Chuck Daly's three assistants) and 1996 (head coach at the Atlanta Games).

“Lenny 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," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. "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.

“But even more impressive than Lenny’s basketball accomplishments, which included two Olympic gold medals and an NBA championship, was his commitment to service – especially in his beloved community of Seattle where a statue stands in his honor. He influenced the lives of countless young people as well as generations of players and coaches who considered Lenny not only a great teammate or coach but also an extraordinary mentor who led with integrity and true class.

“I send my heartfelt condolences to Lenny’s wife, Marilyn; their children, Leesha, Randy and Jamee; and all those throughout the NBA community who were fortunate to be touched by Lenny’s leadership and generosity.”

In 1960, Wilkens was not invited to try out for the Olympic team despite finishing his Providence career as an Associated Press All-America Second Team selection.

"To me, the Olympics were huge," Wilkens wrote in "Unguarded," his 2013 autobiography. "I wanted to represent my country. I had taken part in the ROTC program in college. During my senior year, my basketball goal wasn't the NBA, it was the Olympics. ... I couldn't even think about the Olympics without having a sick feeling for some thirty-two years, not until the 1992 dream team."

In April 1995, Wilkens was named head coach for the Atlanta Olympic team while also coaching the Atlanta Hawks, three months after breaking Red Auerbach’s career regular season wins record for an NBA head coach.

"If ever I was going to be the head coach of the Olympic team, 1996 was the year," Wilkens wrote. "And when it happened, I was very pleased. I knew the moment would be special, but when I was alone and had a chance to think about it, I was surprised at how emotional I became. I was talking about it with some friends, and I got a little choked up. I started to think of where I came from, of all the things that had to happen for me to reach that point, of the odds against a kid who played only a half-year of high-school basketball going on to have a longer career as a player and coach than anyone in NBA history."

Wilkens led the U.S. on an 8-0 run to gold at the Atlanta Games, each win by at least 22 points.

The roster included returning Olympians — Charles Barkley, Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, Mitch Richmond, David Robinson and John Stockton — as well as first-time Olympians Penny Hardaway, Grant Hill, Reggie Miller, Shaquille O'Neal, Hakeem Olajuwon and Gary Payton.

"By the end of the Olympics, I felt just like Chuck Daly had in 1992: I was relieved it was over, relieved we won, and very proud of how the players held up under the pressure," Wilkens wrote. "I was happy that we won my way, by playing all the guys, playing different lineups every game, and we still won big. But with some people, we couldn't win: If we beat a team by only 20 points, then we were flat and just going through the motions; if we won by 40 or 50 points, we were pouring it on. I thought the media criticism we got early in the Olympics was unfair; they kept putting us up against the 1992 team, and there was no way we'd every win that comparison."

Wilkens was a nine-time All-Star as a player, was the first person to reach 1,000 wins as an NBA coach and was the second person inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and coach.

He coached the Seattle SuperSonics to the NBA title in 1979 and remained iconic in that city for the rest of his life, often being considered a godfather of sorts for basketball in Seattle — which lost the Sonics to Oklahoma City in 2008 and has been trying to get a team back since.

Wilkens, the 1994 NBA coach of the year with Atlanta, retired with 1,332 coaching wins — a league record that was later passed by Don Nelson (who retired with 1,335) and then Gregg Popovich ( who retired with 1,390).

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Erik Spoelstra is the new U.S. men’s basketball head coach, tasked with guiding the Americans to a sixth consecutive Olympic title in 2028 in Los Angeles.

Spoelstra, the longest-tenured active NBA head coach with one team (18th season with the Miami Heat), succeeds Steve Kerr, who led the U.S. to gold in 2024.

At the Paris Games, the Americans beat Serbia in the semifinals after trailing by 13 after three quarters. In the final, they doused a late France rally with Stephen Curry hitting four three-pointers in the last three minutes.

Spoelstra, 54, would be the second-youngest U.S. Olympic men's basketball head coach in the Dream Team era after Rudy Tomjanovich, who was 51 in 2000.

Spoelstra would also be the fifth consecutive Olympic head coach who was an assistant coach at a previous Olympics.

Spoelstra played point guard for the University of Portland Pilots from 1988-92, then boxed shoes in a Nike warehouse before a German club signed him as a player-coach, according to Sports Illustrated.

After two seasons in Germany, he began his Miami Heat career in 1995 as a video coordinator.

He was the head coach of NBA champion teams in 2012 and 2013 and lost in the Finals in 2011, 2014, 2020 and 2023.

A recent poll of NBA general managers voted Spoelstra the “best coach in the NBA” as well as the best manager/motivator.

The next major international tournament is the FIBA World Cup in 2027 in Qatar.

The U.S. finished fourth and seventh at the last two World Cups in 2023 and 2019, fielding teams without NBA superstars.

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Miami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra is the leading candidate and is expected to be named the head coach of USA Basketball's men's team for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and the 2027 World Cup in Qatar, according tomultiple reports.

A contract has yet to be signed and finalized, but could be before the month is out. Tim Reynolds at the Associated Press notes any deal would have to be approved by the USA Basketball board of directors, who are set to meet later in October.

Spoelstra would take over for Steve Kerr, who stepped away after the team won gold at the Paris Olympics, the fifth consecutive gold medal for the American men's team. Spoelstra served as an assistant coach on Kerr's staff in Paris and at the World Cup before that. Spoelstra had said previously he would be honored to be considered for the job, and he would be the first Heat coach ever to hold the position.

Entering his 18th NBA season, Spoelstra is the longest-tenured head coach in the NBA (by six years, Kerr is the second-longest tenured). Spoelstra was just voted the "best coach in the NBA" in the annual poll of general managers, who also said he is the best manager and motivator of players in the league.

Spoelstra has led the Heat to six NBA Finals appearances, winning two (with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh) in 2012 and 2013.

USA Basketball has to select a coach who elite players want to play for, someone for whom the game's best are willing to spend their summer with him in a gym. Someone above the petty fray of agents and shoe politics that can try to influence decisions. Spoelstra fits that mold, he is highly respected by players.

This report comes just days after USA Basketball announced that Duke coach Kara Lawson will coach the USA women’s national team for the next Olympic cycle and the Los Angeles Games.

Basketball is going to get a head start at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

FIBA — the international basketball governing body that oversees Olympic basketball — announced this week that the revised schedule for the event has the first games on July 12, two days before the July 14 Opening Ceremonies.

"This adjustment allows the Quarter-Finals to be played over two days and will also ensure that no game will start earlier than 12:00 PM, enhancing the overall experience for players, teams, fans and broadcasters," FIBA said in a statement announcing the change.

What was not announced is whether this change impacts the men's or women's tournaments, or both. Those tournaments are made up of a dozen men's and women's teams — who qualify for the Olympics via results at the World Cup as well as qualifying tournaments — and those tournaments will run through the gold medal games on July 29 and 30 (July 30 is the final day of the Los Angeles Olympics). All the basketball games are scheduled to be played at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, the home of the Los Angeles Clippers.

The USA is the defending gold medalists for both the men (who have won five Olympic golds in a row) and women (the eight-time Olympic defending champions).