Fat Lever

Lever during the 1982–83 season
Personal information
Born	(1960-08-18)August 18, 1960 (age 65) Pine Bluff, Arkansas, U.S.
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
Drafted by	Portland Trail Blazers
Playing career	1982–1994
Position	Point guard /shooting guard
Number	12, 21
Career history
1982–1984	Portland Trail Blazers
1984–1990	Denver Nuggets
1990–1994	Dallas Mavericks
Career highlights
2×NBA All-Star (1988,1990) All-NBA Second Team (1987) NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1988) No. 12retired by Denver Nuggets 2× First-teamAll-Pac-10 (1981, 1982) No. 12jersey 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 NBA.com
Stats atBasketball Reference
Medals Men'sbasketball Representing United States FIBA U19 World Championship 1979 Salvador National team

Lafayette "Fat"Lever (/ˈliːvər/; born August 18, 1960) is an American former professionalbasketball player who played in theNational Basketball Association. He later served as the director of player development for theSacramento Kings of the NBA^[1] as well as an analyst for Kings radio broadcasts.^[2]

Lever was born inPine Bluff, Arkansas, to Elmer and Willie Lever. The second of three sons, he was nicknamed Fat by his younger brother, Elmer Jr., who had problems saying all the syllables in his name. Their father never lived with the family. In 1970, their mother, Willie, went west to work, while the brothers lived with their grandparents. The children joined their mother inTucson, Arizona, a year later.^[3]

Lever was selected by thePortland Trail Blazers with the 11th pick in the1982 NBA draft out ofArizona State. While at ASU, his guard-tandem teammate wasByron Scott, who left school early (1983) to sign with theSan Diego Clippers. In his NBA debut, Lever recorded 9 points, 7 assists and 4 steals in a road loss against theKansas City Kings. On January 20, Lever recorded his first career double-double with 14 points and 13 assists in a road loss against the Mavericks. Three days later, Lever recorded his second career double-double when he had 11 points and 10 assists in a road win over the Spurs. On March 20, Lever scored a season-high 19 points to go along with 6 assists as the Trailblazers beat 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.

Lever was considered one of the NBA's bestpoint guards in the late 1980s while playing for theDenver Nuggets.^[4]

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 Los Angeles Clippers. At that time, he joined Magic Johnson (in 1982–83) as the only players since the ABA-NBA merger to have at least 2 regular season games with 24 points and 18 assists.^[5]

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. The next season, Lever continued his impressive 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), Lever regularly led the Nuggets inrebounding. 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 singleplayoff game (the others beingWilt Chamberlain andJason Kidd).

Lever was traded by the Nuggets to theDallas Mavericks in 1990 for the Mavs' #9 pick in the1990 NBA draft plus Dallas' first-round pick in thefollowing one. The Nuggets subsequently traded the #9 pick and their own #15 pick to theMiami Heat for the Heat's #3 pick in the 1990 draft, with Denver sending the Mavs' 1991 first rounder (which was originally theDetroit Pistons' pick they acquired in theMark Aguirre/Adrian Dantley trade) to theWashington Bullets along withMichael Adams, for the Bullets' first-round pick in the 1991 Draft.

Lever sat out the entire1992–93 season due to knee injury. He left the Mavericks in 1994 and finished his career with averages of 13.9 points, six rebounds, 6.2 assists and 2.22 steals per game.

Among Lever's career achievements were making twoNBA All-Star teams, an All-NBA Second Team in 1987, and an All-Defensive Second Team in 1988.

As of the end of the2020–21 regular season, he ranks 11th on the all-timelist of most triple-doubles in the regular season with 43 over 11 seasons, ahead of players likeMichael Jordan (28),Clyde Drexler (25) andKareem Abdul-Jabbar (21). Of the top 23 triple-double career leaders, Lever is the only eligible player not in the Hall or Fame.

He ended his career as the Nuggets second leading assists leader, behind teammateAlex 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 theLos Angeles Lakers, which they won 115–100.^[6][7]

• List of National Basketball Association career steals leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career triple-double leaders
• List of National Basketball Association career playoff triple-double leaders
• List of National Basketball Association players with most assists in a game
• List of National Basketball Association single-game steals leaders

• Career statistics fromNBA.com · Basketball Reference

• 1960 births
• Living people
• 20th-century African-American sportsmen
• 21st-century African-American sportsmen
• American men's basketball players
• Arizona State Sun Devils men's basketball players
• Basketball players from Arkansas
• Dallas Mavericks players
• Denver Nuggets players
• NBA All-Stars
• NBA players with retired numbers
• Point guards
• Portland Trail Blazers draft picks
• Portland Trail Blazers players
• Shooting guards
• Sportspeople from Pine Bluff, Arkansas
• 21st-century American sportsmen
• 20th-century American sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from January 2019