Fat Lever

Fat Lever
Personal information
Born (1960-08-18) August 18, 1960
Pine Bluff, Arkansas
Nationality American
Listed height 6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight 170 lb (77 kg)
Career information
High school Pueblo (Tucson, Arizona)
College Arizona State (1978–1982)
NBA draft 1982 / Round: 1 / Pick: 11th overall
Selected by the Portland Trail Blazers
Playing career 1982–1994
Position Point guard
Number 12, 21
Career history
1982–1984 Portland Trail Blazers
1984–1990 Denver Nuggets
1990–1994 Dallas Mavericks
Career highlights and awards
Career NBA statistics
Points 10,433 (13.9 ppg)
Assists 4,696 (6.2 apg)
Steals 1,666 (2.2 spg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals
Men's basketball
Representing  United States
FIBA U19 World Championship
1979 Salvador National team

Lafayette "Fat" Lever (/ˈliːvər/; born August 18, 1960) is an American retired professional basketball player born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas who played in the National Basketball Association. He is currently the director of player development for the Sacramento Kings of the NBA.[1] Lever also serves as the color analyst for the Kings radio broadcasts.[2]

Professional career

Portland Trail Blazers

Lever was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers as the 11th pick in the 1982 NBA draft out of Arizona State. While at ASU, his guard-tandem teammate was Byron Scott, who left school early (1983) to sign with the San Diego Clippers.

Denver Nuggets

He was considered one of the NBA's best point guards in the late 1980s while playing for the Denver Nuggets.[3] Despite his size (6 feet 3 inches) he regularly led the Nuggets in rebounding. He is the Nuggets' all-time franchise leader in steals and was 2nd in career assists. He is one of only three players in NBA history to record 15 plus points, rebounds and assists in a single playoff game (the others being Wilt Chamberlain and Jason Kidd).

Dallas Mavericks

Lever was traded by the Nuggets to the Dallas Mavericks in 1990 for the Mavs' #9 pick in the 1990 NBA draft plus Dallas' first-round pick in the following one. The Nuggets subsequently traded the #9 pick and their own #15 pick to the Miami Heat for the Heat's #3 pick in the 1990 draft, with Denver sending the Mavs' 1991 first rounder (which was originally the Detroit Pistons' pick they acquired in the Mark Aguirre/Adrian Dantley trade) to the Washington Bullets along with Michael Adams, for the Bullets' first round pick in the 1991 Draft.

Lever sat out the entire 1992–93 season due to knee injury. He finished his career with the Mavericks in 1994 with career averages of 13.9 points, six rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.22 steals per game.

Career accomplishments

Among Lever's career achievements were making two NBA All-Star teams, an All-NBA Second Team in 1987, and an All-Defensive Second Team in 1988. As of 2016, he ranks 8th on the all-time list of most triple-doubles in the regular season with 43 over 11 seasons, ahead of players like Michael Jordan (28) and Clyde Drexler (25).

On October 10, 2017, the Denver Nuggets announced that they will retire Lever's number #12 jersey. The ceremony took place during a home game against the Los Angeles Lakers on December 2, 2017, where they won 115–100 over the Lakers.[4]

NBA career statistics

Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field goal percentage  3P%  3-point field goal percentage  FT%  Free throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  Bold  Career high

Regular season

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1982–83 Portland 814524.9.431.333.7302.85.31.9.27.8
1983–84 Portland 812224.8.447.200.7432.74.61.7.49.7
1984–85 Denver 828231.2.430.250.7705.07.52.5.412.8
1985–86 Denver 787733.5.441.316.7255.47.52.3.213.8
1986–87 Denver 828237.2.469.239.7828.98.02.5.418.9
1987–88 Denver 828237.3.473.211.7858.17.82.7.318.9
1988–89 Denver 717138.7.457.348.7859.37.92.7.319.8
1989–90 Denver 797935.8.443.414.8049.36.52.1.218.3
1990–91 Dallas 4021.5.391.000.7863.83.01.5.87.3
1991–92 Dallas 31528.5.387.327.7505.23.51.5.411.2
1993–94 Dallas 815424.0.408.351.7653.52.62.0.26.9
Career 75259931.7.447.310.7716.06.22.2.313.9
All-Star 2126.5.519.000.8753.52.51.0.016.5

Playoffs

Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
1983 Portland 7019.1.452.000.8002.04.41.0.06.0
1984 Portland 5015.0.267.667.8003.01.8.8.010.0
1985 Denver 11831.1.402.000.7626.58.52.4.213.3
1986 Denver 101034.7.450.571.7084.85.32.0.214.3
1987 Denver 3333.0.380.250.6676.07.32.3.015.3
1988 Denver 7739.0.459.429.7889.37.01.9.617.0
1989 Denver 2229.0.375.6671.0006.59.52.0.011.0
1990 Denver 3337.7.373.143.92910.77.02.7.317.3
Career 483330.0.414.409.7755.86.21.9.212.4

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://sacramentokings.tumblr.com/post/9384816564/kings-director-of-player-development-fat-lever
  2. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2014-05-14. Retrieved 2011-12-31.
  3. ↑ NBA.com – Kings Hire Lafayette "Fat" Lever as Director of Player Development
  4. ↑ "Fat Lever Surprised by Jersey Retirement Announcement at Nuggets Shootaround". NBA.com. October 10, 2017. Retrieved October 11, 2017.
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