To be the face of the NBA is an honour bestowed upon only a handful of greats, normally reserved for those deemed a ‘generational talent’ but for your silhouette to be the logo of the NBA is an entirely different honour. Jerry West, the face of the NBA has passed away at 86.
Jerry West’s status in the sport of basketball transcends legend to an entirely new position, and his passing leaves us with even fewer greats of his time.
The Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame has inducted Jerry West on three occasions, once for his playing career, again for his role in the USAs Gold Medal Olympic Team of 1960 and for a final time as a contributor to the sport of basketball.
Jerry West was the inaugural winner of the Finals MVP award in 1969 and remains the only player ever to win the award despite being on the losing side.
Along with this, West has the sixth highest appearances in NBA Finals, only behind Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, LeBron James, Sam Jones and Bill Russell.
The vast majority of Jerry West’s finals appearances came up against Bill Russell, facing each other a total of 38 times in the finals. Russell, who passed away two years ago, got the better of West in the finals, having a 24-14 record against him.
This rivalry was pivotal to the future of the NBA, as both men played a key role in establishing what is now the biggest rivalry in North American sports history, the LA Lakers vs the Boston Celtics.
West spent 14 years on the Lakers, from his Debut in 1960 to his retirement in 1974. The guard racked up 932 games played for the franchise, averaging 27 PPG 6.7 APG and 5.8 RPG.
Despite never winning MVP, West did collect 14 All-Star selections, five All-Defence sections (four first team), five All-NBA first team selections and finished in the top six of MVP voting nine times.
The LA Lakers retired West’s Jersey, number 44, on November 19, 1983, and was included in both the NBA’s 50th anniversary 50 greatest players list and the NBA’s 75th anniversary 75 greatest players list.
Younger fans may be more familiar with Jerry West as his portrayal in HBOs series “Winning Time” set in 1979, when West was initially the coach of the Lakers, before transitioning to being a scout and eventually landing on becoming the Lakers General Manager.
Despite the series focusing on the rivalry between the two rookies Magic Johnson, LA Lakers, and Larry Bird, Boston Celtics, the show does show how influential West was at the Lakers.
Very few people have ever had an influence on basketball the way that Jerry West did, here is a list of some of the players that he had a large influence on.
Influence on basketball
1 - Kobe Bryant
Kobe Bryant had one dream when entering the 1996 NBA draft, to play for the LA Lakers. However, the Lakers had the 13th pick in the draft, meaning it was left to Jerry West to use the dark magic of the NBA draft to persuade other teams not to pick him. West was successful and managed to put off enough teams allowing Kobe to be picked up by the Lakers with the 13th pick of that years draft.
2 - Shaquille O’Neal
Shaq had dominated the league since being drafted in 1992, but was yet to win anything. Shaq saw his time in Orlando coming to an end, and wanted to move to a team that was serious about competing. The Lakers at the time were in a lull, and hadn’t been to the finals since Johnson’s retirement in 1992. In 1996, the Lakers signed Shaq as a free agent, a deal that Jerry West played a hand in. The Lakers went on to become only the third franchise ever to three-peat, with Shaq taking home all three finals MVPs.
3 - Klay Thompson
Acting as an advisor to the Golden State Warriors, West told the franchise he would not be able to continue on in his duties if they traded Klay Thompson, at the time unproven, for an established Kevin Love. The Warriors took his advice and decided to keep the young shooting guard. Four championships later, this might be one of the best decisions the franchise ever made.
5 - The ‘ShowTime’ Lakers
New ownership had come into the Lakers, and wanted to change everything. Dr. Buss wanted to change basketball from being just a sport to entertainment. He also wanted to change how players played, making the game less so, more exciting and faster paced. The Lakers did have the leagues premier player, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, but limited supporting cast and at the time Abdul-Jabbar was more concerned with politics than he was basketball. It was left to West to help re-focus Abdul-Jabbar and give him a supporting cast, one of those being the drafting of Magic Johnson. This created the ‘ShowTime’ Lakers and saved the NBA from bankruptcy.
6 - The Los Angeles Clippers
Up until his final days, Jerry West was a consultant of the Los Angeles Clippers, who have been without success their entire history. The franchise has recently built a new home stadium, separating them from the LA Lakers physically and allowing them to have their own identity, with a view to revolutionise how NBA fans spectate games, much more similar to the European approach. The Clippers have also been bold over the last decade in the trade market, acquiring super stars and putting together deep rosters. The Clippers currently have four former MVP Winners on their team, Paul George, Kawhi Leonard, James Harden and Russell Westbrook. It is difficult to quantify how much of the Clippers trajectory is due directly to West, but it is safe to say the Clippers would be much worse off without his input.
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