Jerry West: The Logo and a Lot More
As an NBA player and executive, West was a game changer over the decades
Jerry West, who died Wednesday at age 86, put his handprints all over the NBA — for much of the past seven decades.
Just some of the ways he touched the game:
🏀 Yes, he’s literally the model for the league, with his silhouette serving as the league’s iconic logo.
🏀 As a scorer and leader, he garnered enough fear and respect to become known as Mr. Clutch even though the Lakers lost eight NBA Finals in his 14 years, winning just once. He holds the career record for total points in the Finals, and he is the only player from the losing team to be named Finals MVP. Eventually, the NBA would present the Jerry West Trophy annually to its Clutch Player of the Year.
🏀 Repeating the pattern, West finished second in NBA MVP voting four times.
🏀 After coaching L.A. for three seasons, with some success, he guided the Lakers’ front office for most of the 1980s and ‘90s. His years in charge included most of the Showtime seasons and the Lakers’ acquisitions of Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant.
🏀 He ran the Memphis Grizzlies’ front office for five years — including their first three playoff seasons — and had a hand in the more recent success of the Golden State Warriors and the LA Clippers. In all, he added eight championship rings to the one he won as a player, and two Executive of the Year awards.
🏀 Later this year, he’ll be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame for a record third time, this time as an executive and contributor.
🏀 As one of the NBA’s most honest voices, both publicly and behind the scenes, he was a conscience of the league, one who offered both praise and criticism freely. West was also an NBA pioneer in being vocal about mental health, particularly in his autobiography, in which he shed light on the challenges in his life, the ways that basketball tortured him, and his bouts of depression.
The Game Changer
Six years ago at ESPN.com, we ranked the NBA’s 100 greatest Game Changers — “the players who have influenced the game most, both on and off the court.”
For this ranking, we reached out to our large panel from across the ESPN NBA universe: contributors from ESPN TV, ESPN.com, and more.
The panel named West the No. 11 NBA Game Changer, just after a top 10 composed of the big names you’d expect, including fellow Substacker
. In our presentation, the West item was written by fellow ESPN writer/editor-turned-Substacker .Here’s what Kevin had to say then about the man known by many nicknames, including The Logo and Zeke from Cabin Creek:
Though West is best known to many later-generation fans as a swashbuckling front office executive who presided over the Lakers' dynasty of the 1980s, he was the defining combo guard of his time, a natural to serve as the silhouette for the NBA's iconic logo.
“Basketball is, and always has been, a huge, huge part of me, the canvas I tried to paint each time I stepped on the court and never stopped trying to perfect," West wrote in his autobiography West by West: My Charmed, Tormented Life, published in 2011.
West was a paragon of consistent excellence who was an All-Star in each of his 14 seasons, and helped guide the Lakers to nine Finals appearances. West's jumper — its economy, quick release, silky follow-through — made him the league's most efficient shooter during his prime. On the other end, West was a rugged, handsy competitor, whose defensive crouch and laser focus tormented opposing guards.
Many thanks to Jerry West, who often seemed like the most mortal of men and, at the same time, larger than life.