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Jerry West, one of the greatest players in NBA history and a Los Angeles Lakers legend, has died at the age of 86, the Los Angeles Clippers announced. West is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in NBA history as well as almost indisputably its greatest executives.
West was born in West Virginia in 1938, and he went on to become a college basketball star at the University of West Virginia. He led the Mountaineers to the National Championship Game in 1959, and earned the Final Four Most Outstanding Player award despite losing in that game. The Lakers would go on to draft him No. 2 overall in 1960, with only Olympic teammate and fellow NBA legend Oscar Robertson going ahead of him.
He and Elgin Baylor were the first great Lakers after the team’s move to Los Angeles. West reached the All-Star Game in all 14 of his NBA seasons and took the Lakers to the Finals nine times. Unfortunately, West’s Lakers existed at the height of the Boston Celtics dynasty led by Bill Russell. The Lakers went only 1-8 in the Finals during West’s career, but he was so good that he won Finals MVP in 1969 despite losing.
After retiring as a player, he remained with the Lakers first as their head coach and later their general manager, ultimately adding six more championships in the front office. He would go on to win two more championships in an advisory role with the Golden State Warriors, and has most recently worked in a similar position for the Los Angeles Clippers. His silhouette was famously used to create the NBA’s logo.
West is the second NBA icon to die in the last few weeks. Another Los Angeles basketball icon, Bill Walton, died on May 27 at the age of 71.
CBS Sports will update this story as it develops.
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/jerry-west-dies-at-86-nba-legend-14-time-lakers-all-star-became-the-logo-eight-time-champion-executive/
Author : Sam Quinn
Publish date : 2024-06-12 14:17:04
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