Jerry West, former star of the Lakers but above all famous for having been the inspiration with his elegance of movements of the silhouette which still represents the NBA logo today, dies at the age of 86. The Los Angeles Clippers, for whom he had been a consultant since 2017, announced it in a press release. The former Los Angeles Lakers point guard (1960-1974). “West passed away peacefully, his wife Karen was at his side,” added the Californian franchise without revealing the cause of death.
He was “the embodiment of basketball excellence,” the Clippers note reads. Born in Cabin Creek, a village in West Virginia, into a family of six children, West was devastated by a difficult childhood, but also by an incredible seven-game losing streak in the NBA Finals. The title finally won with the club of his life, the Los Angeles Lakers, in 1972, two years before the end of his career. As a player in 1960 he was part of the US quintet that won gold in Rome.
West made his mark in the NBA thanks to his talent as a scorer, finishing his career averaging over 27 points per game, in an era when the three-point shot, an exercise in which he would undoubtedly have excelled, did not exist.
Fourteen times selected for the All Star Game, he was also an excellent defender. After retiring as a player in 1974, he coached the Lakers from 1976 to 1979, then joining the coaching staff and becoming general manager from 1982 onwards for two decades, the golden era of the franchise (8 titles between 1980 and 2002). It was he who orchestrated the successful hiring of Kobe Bryant and then Shaquille O'Neal.
