Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame three times in a storied career as a player and executive and whose silhouette is considered the basis of the NBA logo, died Wednesday morning at the age of 86, they announced. the LA Clippers. .
West was the third player in NBA history to reach 25,000 points, was an All-Star every year of his career and led the Los Angeles Lakers to the NBA Finals nine times, winning a title in 1971-72. He was also a 12-time All-NBA selection, NBA Finals MVP as part of a losing team in 1969 (the first year the award was given and still the only time it went to a player on the losing team). and part of the NBA's 75th anniversary team.
His life in basketball bridged generations: West played with Elgin Baylor, whom he called “the greatest and most supportive player of that era,” and Wilt Chamberlain. As a coach and executive, he worked with a who's who of NBA stars from the past 40 years: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Shaquille O'Neal, Kobe Bryant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant , Kawhi Leonard and Paul George among them.
“Jerry West was a basketball genius and a defining figure in our league for more than 60 years,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “He distinguished himself not only as an NBA champion and All-Star in his 14 seasons as a player, but also as a consummate competitor who took advantage of the biggest moments.”
“…I valued my friendship with Jerry and the knowledge he shared with me over many years about basketball and life. On behalf of the NBA, we send our deepest condolences to Jerry's wife, Karen, his family and his many friends in the NBA Community.”
The NBA is planning a tribute to West before Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night.
West was “the embodiment of basketball excellence and a friend to all who knew him,” the Clippers said in announcing his death, adding that Karen West was at his side when he died.
After his playing career, West found title success as an NBA executive, building the Showtime Lakers of the 1980s that won five titles in that decade and overseeing the formation of the O'Neal-Bryant tandem. West was only left for the first title in 2000, when the Lakers reached the third title.
He became an advisor to the Clippers beginning in 2017, helping engineer the breakup of the team's “Lob City” core that paved the way for the signing of Leonard and George. The Clippers reached the Western Conference finals for the first time in 2021.
“This is a difficult day. I am honored to call Jerry a confidant, an advisor and a friend,” Clippers owner Steve Ballmer said in a statement. “Connie, my wife, called him my 'basketball dad.' He was absolutely my basketball savant: wise, loyal and very funny. If you were in his presence, you felt his competitiveness and his drive. He cared about everything and everyone. From the first day I met Jerry, seven years ago, he was an inspiration to me with his intellect, honesty and enthusiasm. He never stopped spending some of the best times of my life. I had a joke. I'll miss it.”
West also worked in the front offices of the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors.
He was a two-time All-American at West Virginia, where he averaged 24.8 points per game and helped the Mountaineers win the 1959 NCAA championship, being named Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four despite a loss in the finals. against Cal. West also teamed with Oscar Robertson to lead the United States to a gold medal at the 1960 Rome Olympics.
All of those accomplishments made West one of only three players (along with Magic Johnson and Hakeem Olajuwon) to win a Finals MVP, be named NCAA tournament Most Outstanding Player and win an Olympic gold medal.
Nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his final exploits as a player, West was inducted into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and again as a member of the 1960 United States Olympic Team in 2010. He will be enshrined for the third time. at the end of this year as a collaborator.
West remains the all-time NBA Finals leader in total points, along with field goals made and attempted, as well as free throws made and attempted, but his teams went 1-2 against the New York Knicks and 0 -6 against Boston. Celts.
“Those damn Celtics,” he often said.
West also hit one of the most famous shots in Finals history, a 60-footer at the buzzer of Game 3 of the 1970 series between the Knicks and Lakers to force overtime.
Even in the last years of his life, West was considered basketball royalty. He routinely sat courtside at Summer League games in Las Vegas, often watching many games in one day while greeting long lines of players, LeBron James among them, who came up to shake his hand and pay their respects. .
“The game transcends a lot of things,” West said while attending Summer League last year. “Players change, the style of play may change, but the respect that is learned in this game never changes.”
In a pair of social media posts, James honored West as friend and mentor and “they already missed him.”
I will really miss our conversations, my dear friend! My thoughts and prayers are with his wonderful family! I forever love Jerry! Rest in paradise, boy! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🤎
– LeBron James (@KingJames) June 12, 2024
Michael Jordan said he considered West “a friend and mentor, like a big brother to me.”
“I value his friendship and knowledge,” Jordan said. “I always wished I could have played against him as a competitor, but the more I got to know him, I wished I could have been his teammate. I admired his ideas about basketball and he and I shared a lot of similarities in the way we approached the game. “
A native of Chelyan, West Virginia, West was known as a tenacious player who was rarely satisfied with his performance. He grew up shooting at a basket nailed to the side of a shed and often shot until his fingers bled. He became the first high school player in state history to score more than 900 points in a season, averaging 32.2 points per game in leading East Bank High to a state title.
Basketball, as he would later reveal, was his therapy.
In his memoir, “West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life,” West recounted a lifelong battle with depression. He wrote that his childhood was devoid of love and filled with anger as a result of an abusive father. He often felt worthless and, to combat that, he said he put all of his energy into playing.
“It never ceases to amaze me the places you can go in this world chasing a bouncing ball,” West said in 2019, when then-President Donald Trump awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the country's highest civilian honor. . “My chase began in Chelyan, West Virginia, where I hung a wire basket without a net on the side of a bridge. If your shot didn't go in, the ball would roll down a long slope and you'd be chasing it forever. So you better do it .
“I was a dreamer. My family didn't have much, but we had a clear view of the Appalachian Mountains, and I would sit alone on our porch and wonder, 'If I ever get to the top of that mountain, what will I see at the top?' other side?' Well, I got to the other side and my dreams came true. I was able to see the sides thanks to that bouncing ball.”
He ranks 25th on the NBA's career scoring list, and although the NBA has never confirmed that West was in fact the model for its logo (a player dribbling a ball, on a red and blue background), the league He has never said otherwise either.
“While the logo has never been officially stated to be Jerry West,” Silver said in 2021, “it sure looks a lot like him.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
