Hall of Fame basketball great Jerry West — who won two NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors — died Wednesday at the age of 86.
The Los Angeles Clippers announced West died peacefully at his home NBC Sports Bay Area reported.
West accomplished much in his 86 years.
He was an NBA champion, an NBA Finals MVP, an Olympic gold medalist and the inspiration behind the league’s logo.
He started his professional basketball career in 1960 and continued to influence the game for an additional eight decades.
He won nine championships as a player, scout, coach, executive and consultant.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver spoke of West’s death.
West spent his entire playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers.
West was a 14-time NBA All-Star, 12-time All-NBA pick and five-time All-Defensive selection — but he was just getting started.
West became an NBA executive, building the 1980s Showtime Lakers team which won five championships.
He’s also credited with forming the Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant duo.
That duo won three consecutive NBA championships in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
In 2022, he joined the Golden State Warriors where he served as an executive board member for six seasons. In 2017, he left the Warriors and joined the Los Angeles Clippers organization.
“Jerry West was an incredible and unique individual, having accomplished immeasurable heights in the game of basketball,” Warriors owner Joe Lacob said in a statement. “He reached the absolute pinnacle of the sport as both a player and executive, something few can claim in the profession. He did so much for the NBA, the game of basketball and each of the teams he was associated with during his unmatched career, including the Warriors. Jerry had a profound and immense impact on our franchise and was instrumental in our recent decade of success.
“Personally, as a child, despite growing up a Celtics fan in Massachusetts, Jerry was my idol and I loved him. To me, he was basketball,” Lacob said. “He was not just about the actual game, but he personified competitiveness. He was the most competitive individual I have ever met, settling for nothing short of greatness. He had to win. It consumed him. He was bigger than life. He was an icon.”
