Fat Lever
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Personal information | |||||||||||||||
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Born | Pine Bluff, Arkansas | August 18, 1960||||||||||||||
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: 1st round, 11th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
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 | |||||||||||||||
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Career NBA statistics | |||||||||||||||
Points | 10,433 (13.9 ppg) | ||||||||||||||
Assists | 4,696 (6.2 apg) | ||||||||||||||
Steals | 1,666 (2.2 spg) | ||||||||||||||
Stats at NBA.com | |||||||||||||||
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com | |||||||||||||||
Medals
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Lafayette "Fat" Lever (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
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. 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.
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. 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 Jason Kidd and Wilt Chamberlain). Among Lever's career achievements were making two NBA All-Star teams, an All-NBA Second Team in 1987, an All-Defensive Second Team in 1988, and, as of 2014, ranking 6th 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).
NBA career statistics
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 | 81 | 45 | 24.9 | .431 | .333 | .730 | 2.8 | 5.3 | 1.9 | .2 | 7.8 |
1983–84 | Portland | 81 | 22 | 24.8 | .447 | .200 | .743 | 2.7 | 4.6 | 1.7 | .4 | 9.7 |
1984–85 | Denver | 82 | 82 | 31.2 | .430 | .250 | .770 | 5.0 | 7.5 | 2.5 | .4 | 12.8 |
1985–86 | Denver | 78 | 77 | 33.5 | .441 | .316 | .725 | 5.4 | 7.5 | 2.3 | .2 | 13.8 |
1986–87 | Denver | 82 | 82 | 37.2 | .469 | .239 | .782 | 8.9 | 8.0 | 2.5 | .4 | 18.9 |
1987–88 | Denver | 82 | 82 | 37.3 | .473 | .211 | .785 | 8.1 | 7.8 | 2.7 | .3 | 18.9 |
1988–89 | Denver | 71 | 71 | 38.7 | .457 | .348 | .785 | 9.3 | 7.9 | 2.7 | .3 | 19.8 |
1989–90 | Denver | 79 | 79 | 35.8 | .443 | .414 | .804 | 9.3 | 6.5 | 2.1 | .2 | 18.3 |
1990–91 | Dallas | 4 | 0 | 21.5 | .391 | .000 | .786 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 1.5 | .8 | 7.3 |
1991–92 | Dallas | 31 | 5 | 28.5 | .387 | .327 | .750 | 5.2 | 3.5 | 1.5 | .4 | 11.2 |
1993–94 | Dallas | 81 | 54 | 24.0 | .408 | .351 | .765 | 3.5 | 2.6 | 2.0 | .2 | 6.9 |
Career | 752 | 599 | 31.7 | .447 | .310 | .771 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 2.2 | .3 | 13.9 | |
All-Star | 2 | 1 | 26.5 | .519 | .000 | .875 | 3.5 | 2.5 | 1.0 | .0 | 16.5 |
Playoffs
Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
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1983 | Portland | 7 | 0 | 19.1 | .452 | .000 | .800 | 2.0 | 4.4 | 1.0 | .0 | 6.0 |
1984 | Portland | 5 | 0 | 15.0 | .267 | .667 | .800 | 3.0 | 1.8 | .8 | .0 | 10.0 |
1985 | Denver | 11 | 8 | 31.1 | .402 | .000 | .762 | 6.5 | 8.5 | 2.4 | .2 | 13.3 |
1986 | Denver | 10 | 10 | 34.7 | .450 | .571 | .708 | 4.8 | 5.3 | 2.0 | .2 | 14.3 |
1987 | Denver | 3 | 3 | 33.0 | .380 | .250 | .667 | 6.0 | 7.3 | 2.3 | .0 | 15.3 |
1988 | Denver | 7 | 7 | 39.0 | .459 | .429 | .788 | 9.3 | 7.0 | 1.9 | .6 | 17.0 |
1989 | Denver | 2 | 2 | 29.0 | .375 | .667 | 1.000 | 6.5 | 9.5 | 2.0 | .0 | 11.0 |
1990 | Denver | 3 | 3 | 37.7 | .373 | .143 | .929 | 10.7 | 7.0 | 2.7 | .3 | 17.3 |
Career | 48 | 33 | 30.0 | .414 | .409 | .775 | 5.8 | 6.2 | 1.9 | .2 | 12.4 |
See also
- List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders
- List of National Basketball Association players with most assists in a game
- List of National Basketball Association players with 9 or more steals in a game
References
External links
- College & NBA stats @ Basketball-Reference.com
- 1960 births
- Living people
- African-American basketball players
- American men's basketball players
- Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball players
- Basketball players from Arkansas
- Dallas Mavericks players
- Denver Nuggets players
- National Basketball Association All-Stars
- Point guards
- Portland Trail Blazers draft picks
- Portland Trail Blazers players
- Shooting guards
- Sportspeople from Pine Bluff, Arkansas