Getty Jerry West speaking.
Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James took to X to pay respects to Lakers legend Jerry West, who died June 12 at age 86.
“Will truly miss our convos my dear friend! My thoughts and prayers goes out to your wonderful family! Forever love Jerry! Rest in Paradise my guy!” James tweeted.
Will truly miss our convos my dear friend! My thoughts and prayers goes out to your wonderful family! Forever love Jerry! Rest in Paradise my guy! 🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙌🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🙏🏾🤎
West has been on record giving James credit for being one of the greatest players in NBA history. He had the following to say on a 2017 episode of “The Dan Patrick Show.”
“LeBron James, in his own right, you could put him adjacent to him and everyone thought ‘Well, look how many rings Michael won’. I think that’s the craziest way to try to compare a player that you can possibly have,” West said.
West’s Storied Career as a General Manager & Player
West died “peacefully this morning at the age of 86. His wife, Karen, was by his side,” the the Los Angeles Clippers announced. The West Virginia native had been an executive board member and consultant with the Clippers since 2017.
There aren’t many better success stories in NBA history than West. West was the general manager of the “Showtime Lakers” dynasty that won five titles in a decade. He won six championships as an executive with the Los Angeles Lakers and two with the Golden State Warriors. His success as an executive won him Executive of the Year Awards in 1995 and 2004.
West was a 14-time All-Star, a member of the Hall of Fame, an NBA champion, and a member of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary team. His impressive career never went unnoticed, as the NBA logo features his iconic silhouette. West, a Lakers icon, also held positions in the Lakers front office and will go down as one of the best general managers in NBA history.
He was just the third player in NBA history to reach the 25,000-point mark. The West Virginia University product was a two-time All-American, where he averaged 24.8 points per game. He helped bring the Mountaineers to the 1959 NCAA championship game and was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player despite losing in the final to Cal.
A member of the USA 1960 Olympic team, West won a gold medal. The team was inducted as a unit into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
The success didn’t end there, as he also holds the highest points per game average in a playoff series with 46.3.
West Held Himself Accountable on the Court
West had the career he did in large part due to his attitude on and off the court. He screamed accountability, taking responsibility for why the Lakers ever lost.
According to Mike Kupper of the Los Angeles Times, West said, “If we lost, it was always my fault.”
“I can’t tell you what the day of a game was for me,” he told The Times in 1999. “It was nervous, anticipation, coming to compete and, more importantly, to win. If we lost, it was always my fault; it wasn’t anyone else’s fault. I don’t care how well I played or how well I didn’t play, it was my fault. And if I did play very well, that made it even worse.”
The Lakers legend was often on the wrong side of the Boston Celtics dynasty but competed no matter the situation.
Rest in peace to a legend.