{"id":402369,"date":"2024-06-12T20:41:45","date_gmt":"2024-06-12T20:41:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=402369"},"modified":"2024-06-12T21:05:00","modified_gmt":"2024-06-12T21:05:00","slug":"lebron-jordan-pay-tribute-after-nba-identitys-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=402369","title":{"rendered":"LeBron, Jordan pay tribute after NBA identity's death"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball<\/a> Hall of Fame three times in a storied career as a player and executive, and whose silhouette is the basis of the NBA<\/a> logo, has died, the Los Angeles Clippers announced.<\/p>\n

He was 86.<\/p>\n

West, nicknamed \u201cMr Clutch\u201d for his late-game exploits as a player, was an NBA champion who went into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and again as a member of the gold medal-winning 1960 US Olympic Team in 2010.<\/p>\n

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He will be enshrined for a third time later this year as a contributor, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver called West \u201cone of the greatest executives in sports history".<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cHe helped build eight championship teams during his tenure in the NBA \u2014 a legacy of achievement that mirrors his on-court excellence,\u201d Silver said.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd he will be enshrined this October into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as a contributor, becoming the first person ever inducted as both a player and a contributor.<\/p>\n

"I valued my friendship with Jerry and the knowledge he shared with me over many years about basketball and life.\u201d<\/p>\n

West was \u201cthe personification of basketball excellence and a friend to all who knew him,\u201d the Clippers said in announcing his death.<\/p>\n

West\u2019s wife, Karen, was by his side when he died, the Clippers said. West worked for the Clippers as a consultant for the past seven years.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/official_bscott\/status\/1800932785013883265?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

He was an All-Star in all 14 of his NBA seasons, a 12-time All-NBA selection, part of the 1972 Lakers team that won a championship, an NBA Finals MVP when the Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in 1969 \u2014 the first year that award was given out, and still the only time it went to a player on the losing team \u2014 and was selected as part of the NBA\u2019s 75th anniversary team.<\/p>\n

West was general manager of championship teams with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping build the \u201cShowtime\u201d dynasty.<\/p>\n

He also worked in the front offices of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors and the Clippers. Among his many highlights as an executive with the Lakers: he drafted Magic Johnson and James Worthy, then brought in Kobe Bryant and eventually Shaquille O'Neal to play alongside Bryant.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/MagicJohnson\/status\/1800958642784759924?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

His basketball life bridged generations: West played with Elgin Baylor, whom he called \u201cthe most supportive and the greatest player of that era,\u201d and Wilt Chamberlain. As a coach and executive, he worked with a who's-who of NBA stars from the past 40 years: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Johnson, Worthy, O'Neal, Bryant, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Kevin Durant, Kawhi Leonard and Paul George among them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI marvel at them, at the joy they brought basketball fans all over the world,\u201d West said in 2019.<\/p>\n

Even in the final years of his life, West was considered basketball royalty. He routinely sat courtside at Summer League games in Las Vegas, often watching many games in a day while greeting long lines of players \u2014 LeBron James<\/a> among them \u2014 who would approach to shake his hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe game transcends many things,\u201d West said while attending Summer League last year. \u201cThe players change, the style of play may change, but the respect that you learn in this game never changes.\u201d<\/p>\n

James, on social media, offered his condolences: \u201cWill 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!\u201d the NBA's all-time scoring leader wrote.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/KingJames\/status\/1800898659330171024?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw<\/a><\/p>\n

West is 25th on the NBA's all-time scoring list, and while the league has never confirmed that West was in fact the model for its logo \u2014 a player dribbling a ball, set against a red-and-blue background \u2014 the league has never said otherwise, either.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s never been officially declared that the logo is Jerry West,\u201d Silver said in 2021, \u201cit sure looks a lot like him.\u201d<\/p>\n

West is still the NBA Finals' all-time leader in total points, along with field goals made and attempted as well as free throws made and attempted. He played in the title series nine times with the Lakers; his teams went 1-2 against the New York Knicks, and 0-6 against the Celtics.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose damn Celtics,\u201d he often said.<\/p>\n

West also hit one of the most famed shots in finals history, a 60-footer at the buzzer of game three of the 1970 series between the Knicks and Lakers to force overtime.<\/p>\n

Tributes from across the sports world quickly poured in after news broke of West's death. The Los Angeles Dodgers released a statement calling West \u201can indelible figure on the Los Angeles sports landscape for more than 60 years,\u201d and the NBA was planning a pregame tribute to West before Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the Celtics and Dallas Mavericks.<\/p>\n

\u201cJerry West is one of my favorite people that I had the honor to get to know in the NBA,\u201d Miami Heat managing general partner Micky Arison said. \u201cHe welcomed me to the league, offered advice from the first day, and asked nothing in return. He will be missed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Michael Jordan<\/a> said he considered West \u201ca friend and mentor – like an older brother to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI valued his friendship and knowledge,\u201d Jordan said. \u201cI always wished I could have played against him as a competitor, but the more I came to know him, I wish I had been his teammate. I admired his basketball insights and he and I shared many similarities to how we approached the game.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame three times in a storied career as a player and executive, and whose silhouette […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":402371,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402369"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=402369"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402369\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":402372,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/402369\/revisions\/402372"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/402371"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=402369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=402369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=402369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}