NBA legend Jerry West dies at age 86

Jerry West is introduced during his NBA 75th Anniversary Team ceremony at the 2022 All-Star Game. West was also a member of the league’s 35th and 50th anniversary teams. (Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images)

Jerry West, the inspiration for the NBA’s logo, died peacefully at his home at the age of 86, the Los Angles Clippers announced Wednesday.

One of basketball’s most accomplished contributors, West was a staple of the sport across eight decades, winning nine championships as a player, scout, coach, executive and consultant. He was an architect of the Los Angeles Lakers’ 10 titles in the 1980s and 2000s and an advisor to the dynastic Golden State Warriors.

Long before West established himself as arguably the greatest general manager in NBA history, he was among the league’s first superstars. A legend of West Virginia high school and college basketball and co-captain of the 1960 U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team, West made the All-Star Game each season of a 14-year career decorated with 12 All-NBA selections and five All-Defensive appearances, all for the Lakers.

He won a single title in nine trips to the NBA Finals, heartbreakingly losing six title series to Bill Russell’s Boston Celtics, and West’s Finals MVP award in 1969 remains the only time the honor has been bestowed on a member of the losing team. He averaged 37.9 points per game in a seven-game loss to the Celtics.

“He took a loss harder than any player I’ve ever known,” late and legendary Lakers broadcaster Chick Hearn once said of West. “He would sit by himself and stare into space. A loss just ripped his guts out.”

A trailblazing scoring guard and relentless competitor, West was a deadly shooter before the advent of the 3-point line, and his most famous shot came in the form of a 60-foot buzzer beater that sent Game 3 of the 1970 Finals into overtime against the New York Knicks. He joined Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson as the league’s first 25,000-point scorers. West averaged 27 points, 6.7 points and 5.8 rebounds for his career.

The late Hot Rod Hundley once described his fellow West Virginian and Lakers teammate as “the greatest competitor I’ve ever…

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Author : Yahoo Sports

Publish date : 2024-06-12 13:46:46

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