Jerry West, the basketball legend whose silhouette still serves as the NBA logo, has died at age 86. The Los Angeles Clippers revealed the news on Wednesday, stating that West’s wife, Karen, was at his side.
West is best known as the driving force behind the Los Angeles Lakers teams of the 1960s, their first and only NBA title in 1972, and for building future championship teams as an executive.
The news of West’s death sparked an immediate outpouring of grief throughout the basketball world, including ESPN host Mike Greenberg.
“I’m sorry to be the one to tell you,” Greenberg told his ESPN audience on Wednesday. ‘One of the most important figures in the history of American sports has died, one of the best players and one of the most important people in the history of basketball in this or any country. Jerry West has died at the age of 86.’
With the Lakers, West oversaw five championship teams in the 1980s before laying the foundation for three more titles (2000-2002) by signing Shaquille O’Neal and acquiring Kobe Bryant in a draft day trade in 1996.
Karen West, former NBA player Jerry West and their son Jonnie West at an event in 2012
West shoots a free throw during a 1971 game against the Knicks at the Great Western Forum
The second overall pick in the 1960 draft, West was named to 14 All-Star teams during his career, averaging 27 points per game.
He then had an unsuccessful three-year run as the Lakers’ head coach before taking on a scouting role and later becoming the team’s general manager.
West was seen as the man who helped the Lakers win three consecutive titles between 2000 and 2002 with Bryant and O’Neal on his staff with Phil Jackson as coach.
He played a key role in the trade for Bryant after he was originally selected by the Charlotte Hornets in the 1996 draft, using Vlade Divac as bait to land the 17-year-old phenom.
West left the Lakers to become general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies in 2002 before retiring five years later.
West joined the Memphis Grizzlies front office in 2002 before winning his seventh and eighth titles as an executive with Golden State in 2015 and 2017.
He joined the Clippers’ board of directors in 2017, helping to successfully recruit two-time NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard as a free agent in 2020.
West then moved to the Golden State Warriors as an executive board member in 2011 and the franchise won its first championship in 40 years in 2015.
The iconic NBA logo was created using the silhouette of Lakers legend Jerry West.
The current NBA logo was created by Alan Siegel in 1969 incorporating the silhouette of Los Angeles Lakers star Jerry West from a photo (above) taken by Wen Roberts.
American Jerry West tries to look calm while posing with Yvonne DeCarlo.
It was West who brought Kobe Bryant to the Lakers with a draft day trade for Vlade Divac.
The current NBA logo was created by Alan Siegel in 1969 incorporating West’s silhouette from a photograph taken by Wen Roberts.
The logo was inspired by that of Major League Baseball, which was the silhouette of a player many mistakenly believe to be Twins slugger Harmon Killebrew. (The image is supposedly a composite of several players in the late 1960s.)
West’s logo debuted in 1971.
West, a Hall of Fame player for the Lakers, went on to coach the team for a few unsuccessful seasons in the late 1970s before eventually building the team that won three consecutive titles in the early 2000s.
While serving as general manager of the Lakers in the mid-1990s, West traded star center Vlade Divac to the Charlotte Hornets in exchange for the draft rights to 17-year-old Bryant.
Bryant rewarded West by winning the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award as a rookie and eventually becoming an 18-time All-Star.
West later described himself as Bryant’s surrogate father due to their close bond.
