[2] Dawkins averaged double figures in scoring nine times in his 14 years in the NBA, often ranking among the league leaders in field-goal percentage.

[3] As a 6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) senior at Maynard Evans High School in Orlando, Florida, Dawkins averaged 32 points and 21 rebounds to lead his team to the state championship.

Dawkins' role in helping the Sixers win the Eastern Conference championship established him as one of Philadelphia's top players, on a team that included Julius Erving, George McGinnis, Lloyd Free, and Doug Collins.

For the second straight year, the Sixers earned the top seed in the Eastern Division and advanced to the conference finals, but they were defeated by the Washington Bullets in six games.

Prior to the 1978–79 season, Philadelphia traded McGinnis to the Denver Nuggets, clearing the way for Dawkins to be a permanent frontcourt starter.

In 1979–80, he averaged 14.7 points and a career-high 8.7 rebounds, helping the Sixers back to the NBA Finals, which they lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in six games.

Frustrated with the team's inability to handle Lakers center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Sixers management traded Dawkins to the New Jersey Nets and Caldwell Jones to the Houston Rockets for Moses Malone, who helped Philadelphia win the NBA championship the following year.

[7] At age 25, Dawkins joined a Nets club that included Albert King, Buck Williams, and Otis Birdsong.

[19] His tenure with Utah lasted just four games before the Jazz traded him to the Detroit Pistons for a pair of second-round draft picks and an undisclosed amount of cash.

[23][24] Dawkins received a training camp invitation from the Orlando Magic for their inaugural season in 1989,[25] but he opted to play in Italy.

Dawkins named the first backboard-breaking dunk "The Chocolate-Thunder-Flying, Robinzine-Crying, Teeth-Shaking, Glass-Breaking, Rump-Roasting, Bun-Toasting, Wham-Bam, Glass-Breaker-I-Am-Jam.

[citation needed] At one point, Dawkins claimed to be an alien from the planet Lovetron, where he spent the off-season practicing "interplanetary funkmanship" where his girlfriend Juicy Lucy lived.

[30] Dawkins was the head coach of the Allentown, Pennsylvania-based Pennsylvania ValleyDawgs of the United States Basketball League (USBL) until they folded.

[30] On August 20, 2009, Lehigh Carbon Community College, located in Schnecksville, Pennsylvania, announced Dawkins as head coach of the basketball team.

[32] On April 7, 1986, he appeared at WrestleMania II as a guest judge for a boxing match between Mr. T (with Joe Frazier, The Haiti Kid) versus Roddy Piper (with Bob Orton and Lou Duva).

In 2005, Dawkins was one of several former NBA players to audition for an analyst position with ESPN, as part of the network's reality series Dream Job.

In the book, Dawkins chronicled some of the racism he encountered during his NBA career, playing alongside 76ers superstar Julius Erving, and his off-the-court experiences with drugs, partying, and women.

[36] The following autumn, the two were planning to divorce when she committed suicide on November 1, 1987, at her parents' home in New Jersey; Dawkins was in Utah with his team at the time.

The Lehigh County coroner's office announced that an autopsy would be performed on August 27, but according to a statement released by Dawkins' family, the cause of death was a heart attack.

Among them were former boxing heavyweight champion Larry Holmes, former 76ers teammate Billy Cunningham (who also coached Dawkins for five of his seven seasons with the team), former New Jersey Net Tim Bassett, and modern NBA players Jason Thompson and Karl-Anthony Towns.