SuperSonics promote Wilkens

Wilkens, who first came to Seattle in 1968 as a player and then led the franchise to its only championship in 1979 as a coach, will also remain vice chairman of the team and will continue to report directly to chairman Clay Bennett.

Wilkens is the all-time winningest coach in league history with a career record of 1,315-1,133 with Seattle, Portland, Cleveland, Atlanta, Toronto and New York.

"Lenny is a tremendous asset to our organization and he has proven to be an invaluable advisor in his role as vice chairman," Bennett said. "Lenny’s experience and insights into the NBA and professional basketball will be very helpful during this transitional period. Lenny and the other members of our basketball operations group will be working with us to improve the team and return the Sonics to prominence in the league."

Friday marked the latest in a series of changes for the Sonics. On Tuesday, they announced that head coach Bob Hill will not return to the team next season and pushing general manager Rick Sund into a consultant role for the remaining year of his contract.

As the president of basketball operations, Wilkens will play a key role in the search for a new GM and head coach.

Seattle finished 31-51 this season, losing its last five games while posting the second worst record in the Western Conference. This was Seattle’s worst mark for a full season since an identical 31-51 mark in 1985-86.

Last week, Bennett announced that the team will pursue other ideas for a new arena, including relocation. Key legislators announced a week ago that the Washington State Legislature will not vote on a plan for a new arena for the team.