Seattle icon Lenny Wilkens honored with statue at Climate Pledge Arena

Percy Allen, The Seattle Times on Jun 28, 2025

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SEATTLE — Lenny Wilkens returned to Seattle Center where his Sonics teams rose to the heights of the NBA in the 1970s.

And a part of him will never leave.

Under clear blue skies, a 6-foot, 700-pound bronze statue of Wilkens was unveiled on the west plaza at Climate Pledge Arena to honor the man who embodied Seattle’s NBA team and became a fixture in the community through his charitable endeavors.

To the surprise of several in attendance at the Saturday morning ceremony, the life-size replica of Wilkens did not depict a moment in his Sonics career when his coached the team to its first NBA title in 1979.

Instead, Chicago-based sculptor Lou Cella captured in perpetuity a snapshot of Wilkens as an All-Star point guard when he arguably became Seattle’s first professional sports superstar.

“I love it, but then I love a good action pose,” Cella said. “What you see is Lenny isn’t palming the basketball. It’s on his fingertips. So, I was trying to create sort of a lightness to it and that flow that he had where it just seemed like he glided down the court.

“I didn’t want him to feel anchored as a still piece. It’s not an actual action figure, but I’m trying to create the illusion of movement. And so, I love how he handled the basketball to give it that feeling of movement.”

The lanky left-hander is sporting a sizable Afro and wearing a No. 19 Sonics jersey. He’s driving with the ball in his right hand, his left arm bent and his body slightly angled. Wilkens looks as if he’s about to pass to a teammate or drive the lane to the rim for a score.

During his four-year stint (1968-72) with the Sonics as a player, Wilkens averaged 19.5 points on 43.6% shooting, 5.0 rebounds and 9.0 assists while making three trips to the All-Star Game and winning the MVP in 1971.

As a player/coach, Wilkens posted a 121-125 record with the Sonics between 1969-72. He returned as general manager in 1977 before taking over as coach and amassing a 357-277 record in eight seasons, which included six playoff appearances, two trips to the NBA Finals and a league championship.

Fun fact: The photo selected by Wilkens and his family that Cella used as inspiration for the statue is a picture of 37-year-old Wilkens playing his final NBA season in 1974-75 with the Portland Trail Blazers.

“We refined it and worked on it until we have a precise likeness of Lenny Wilkins,” said Cella, who also produced statues of Seattle Mariners greats Ken Griffey Jr., Edgar Martinez, Dave Niehaus and legendary Washington Huskies coach Don James. “The precise uniform. We got the stitching on the numbers, the placement of the team name on the front. Were there seams on the shorts? Whether the shorts had a belt or elastic. We were focusing on that. What kind of shoes did he wear? We found out he wore Adidas later in his career and was wearing Converse All-Stars early.

“When he came to visit, he was smiling and said: ‘It looks almost perfect, except for one thing.’ He opened his jacket and he was wearing a gold religious medal that was a gift from his wife. I saw it in all the photos, but couldn’t see what it was. So, I immediately took close-up photos of it. I measured it and … proportionately enlarged my own recreation of that medal. Those types of details are important.”

Wilkens, who is the only three-time inductee in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, was surprised when told of the plans to build him a statue years ago.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” he said. “It’s overwhelming. That’s the word I keep coming back to, overwhelming.”

Over 150 of Wilkens’ friends and family members attended Saturday’s statue unveiling, including former Sonics Jack Sikma and Nate McMillan and former Sonics coach George Karl.

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