BASKETBALL LEGEND JERRY West, the star Los Angeles Lakers guard who inspired the NBA logo, has died at the age of 86.
West played for the Lakers from 1960 through 1974, winning his only NBA title as a player in 1972. He was also a member of the USA’s Olympic gold medal-winning squad at the Rome Games in 1960.
West was known affectionately as ‘Mr Clutch’ for his propensity for making big plays in pivotal situations, such as his 60-foot buzzer-beater to tie Game 3 of the 1970 NBA Finals against the New York Knicks. He was also known as ‘Mr Outside’ — a reference to his proficiency on the perimeter with the Lakers — and ‘The Logo’ after the NBA designed its badge around his silhouette in 1969.
That same year, West became the only player in NBA history to be crowned Finals MVP while playing for the losing team as the Lakers threw away a 2-0 series advantage and lost 4-3 to their archnemeses, the Boston Celtics.
West was voted season MVP in 1972 as he won his sole championship as a player with the Lakers. In all, he was a 14-time All-Star, made 12 All-NBA teams, and five All-Defensive teams.
West also holds the NBA record for the highest points-per-game average in a playoff series with 46.3 against the Baltimore Bullets in the 1965 Western Division Finals. His overall playoff average of 29.1 points per game was achieved before the advent of the three-point shot but it has since been surpassed only by Michael Jordan and Allen Iverson.
After retiring as a player, West went on to coach the Lakers in 1977 and steered them to the playoffs in three consecutive years before moving upstairs, firstly as a scout and later as general manager. He became an integral figure as his beloved Lakers went on to win five NBA titles during the Magic Johnson-inspired ‘Showtime’ era of the ’80s, and his work yielded another glorious Lakers reign at the turn of the millennium.
West famously traded Vlade Divac for the draft rights to Kobe Bryant in 1996, recruiting free agent center Shaquille O’Neal during the same off-season. He recruited the Chicago Bulls’ six-time NBA champion Phil Jackson as head coach in 1999, sparking a Lakers three-peat — but West departed the organisation after the first of those three titles in 2000.
Seeking new challenges after four decades with the Lakers, West went on to serve as an executive for several NBA clubs, most recently the Clippers.
His two NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors in 2015 and 2017 took his personal tally — as both player and executive — to nine.
A semi-fictionalised version of West was recently played by actor Jason Clarke in the HBO series Winning Time, a dramatised depiction of the ‘Showtime’ Lakers that West helped to build.
