Jack Sikma and Joe Hassett were strolling through their hotel lobby when their coach stopped the two rookies to relay a message.
Bob Hopkins had led a talented Seattle SuperSonics team to a start that was remarkable only because of what followed it. A former Sonics assistant and four-year NBA player, Hopkins had taken over as head coach after his cousin, Bill Russell, left the job following the previous season. The squad was 5-17 when he bumped into Sikma and Hassett near the front entrance of Kansas City’s Westin that November afternoon in 1977. Seattle had lost by 16 in Denver the night before and was only a few hours away from playing the Kansas City Kings with what must’ve felt like a plausible drubbing looming on the second night of a back-to-back.
“Hey, you guys are wanted up in a meeting upstairs with Lenny,” Hopkins told the players.
“Lenny” was Lenny Wilkens, a beloved former Sonics player and the franchise’s at-the-time director of…
