Fat Lever

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

Fat Lever

Personal information
Born	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
2× NBA All-Star (1988, 1990) All-NBA Second Team (1987) NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1988) No. 12 retired by Denver Nuggets 2× First-team All-Pac-10 (1981, 1982) No. 12 retired by Arizona State Sun Devils
Career NBA statistics
Points	10,433 (13.9 ppg)
Rebounds	4,523 (6.0 rpg)
Assists	4,696 (6.2 apg)
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men's basketball Representing  United States FIBA U19 World Championship 1979 Salvador National team

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. In his debut, Lever recorded 9 points, 7 assists and 4 steals in a road loss over the Kansas City Kings. On January 20, Lever recorded his first career double-double as he puts up 14 points and 13 assists in a road loss over the Mavericks. Three days after, Lever recorded his second career double-double as he recorded 11 points and 10 assists in a road win over the Spurs. On March 20, Lever recorded a season-high 19 points to go along with 6 assists as the Trailblazers picks up the win over the Nuggets.

During his rookie season, Lever averaged 7.8 points per game, 2.8 rebounds per game, 5.3 assists per game and 1.9 steals per game.

Denver Nuggets

He was considered one of the NBA's best point guards in the late 1980s while playing for the Denver Nuggets.[3]

In his debut with the Nuggets, Lever recorded 14 points and 12 assists in a win over the Warriors. On November 6, Lever recorded a double-double of 24 points and 18 assists in a road win over the Lakers, the first time it happened in Nuggets history. On March 9 against the Pacers, Lever recorded his first career triple-double with 13 points, 15 assists and a career-high 10 steals. On April 10, Lever recorded a double-double of 26 points and 18 assists in a road loss against the LA Clippers. At that time, he joins Magic Johnson (in 1982-83) as the only players since the ABA-NBA merger to have at least 2 season games having recorded 24 points and 18 assists.[4]

In his first season with the Nuggets, Lever averaged 12.8 points per game, 5.0 rebounds per game, 7.5 assists per game and 2.5 steals per game.

Next season, Lever continued his impressive or stellar performance for the Nuggets. On November 12, 1985, Lever recorded his first 30-point double-double as he recorded 31 points, 12 assists and 9 rebounds in a road loss to the Rockets.

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 the end of the 2018-19 regular season, 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), Clyde Drexler (25) and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (21).

He ended his career as the Nuggets second leading assists leader, behind teammate Alex English, third in terms of rebounds, behind Issel and English.

On December 2, 2017, the Nuggets retired Lever's number 12 jersey during their home game against the Los Angeles Lakers, which they won 115–100.[5][6]

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	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
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 single-game steals leaders

References

1. http://sacramentokings.tumblr.com/post/9384816564/kings-director-of-player-development-fat-lever
2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on May 14, 2014. Retrieved December 31, 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
3. NBA.com – Kings Hire Lafayette "Fat" Lever as Director of Player Development
4. "Player Game Finder". Retrieved June 29, 2019.
5. Dempsey, Christopher (December 2, 2017). "Fat Lever 'Overjoyed' by Jersey Retirement". NBA.com. Retrieved June 5, 2019.
6. "Murray, Barton lead Nuggets over Lakers, 115-100". ESPN.com. December 2, 2017. Retrieved June 5, 2019. Denver retired Lafayette "Fat" Lever's No. 12 in a halftime ceremony.

External links

• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com or Basketball-Reference.com