50 Greatest NBA/ABA Players Not In the Hall Of Fame
By Phil Watson
Copyright 1990 NBAE (Photo by Scott Cunningham/NBAE via Getty Images)
Lafayette Lever erupted as a star after a 1984 trade from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Denver Nuggets, where he became an elite point guard at both ends of the floor.
Lever spent six seasons in Denver, earning All-NBA honors in 1986-87 and an All-Defensive selection in 1987-88, while emerging as a stat-sheet stuffer of the highest order, averaging 17.0 points, 7.6 rebounds, 7.5 assists and 2.5 steals in 35.6 minutes per game with the Nuggets.
He started his career among a glut of point guards in Portland after going 11th overall in the 1982 NBA Draft and closed his career with four injury-plagued years with the Dallas Mavericks, where he played in only 35 games between 1990-93 because of knee problems and missed all of 1992-93.
Over 11 NBA seasons, his numbers were more modest — 13.9 points, 6.2 assists, 6.0 rebounds and 2.2 steals in 31.7 minutes a night, shooting 44.7 percent overall.
Lever was a tough cookie at the defensive end, ranking sixth all-time in steals per game and 24th in total steals with 1,666. He is also 47th in assists per game.
Lever’s legacy might be different, but he had horrible injury luck in the playoffs. He started only eight of Denver’s 15 games during its run to the Western Conference Finals in 1985 and sat out the final two games of their second-round loss to Dallas in 1988 — both losses.