The NBA is not only mourning the loss of one of its faces, but also the man behind the silhouette of its logo: Jerry West has passed away.
One of the greatest players in NBA history is dead, as is one of the league’s greatest officials. And the man whose dribbling silhouette has been its logo since 1969: Basketball is mourning the death of Jerry West, who was 86 years old.
West’s death was announced on Wednesday by the Los Angeles Clippers, for whom he had worked in an advisory capacity since 2017. However, he made his name with the Lakers. Drafted second overall in 1960, West played for today’s record-breaking champions (17 titles – like the Boston Celtics) when they were still based in Minneapolis.
By the end of his career in 1974, the dynamic guard, 1.91 meters tall, would only wear the Lakers jersey and lead the legendary franchise to nine NBA Finals. But in the first six editions, always against the Celtics, West always left the court a loser. In 1969, when he became “The Logo”, which became his nickname, he became the first and only player from the losing team to be named Finals MVP, averaging just under 38 points. In Boston, as he had to nibble at, West simply faced an overpowering opponent.
The official surpasses the player
In between two more Finals defeats to the Knicks, West finally won a title in 1972, also against New York. The brilliant long-range shooter (at a time before the three-point line) had far more to celebrate as an official.
In the 1980s, he built the successful “Showtime Lakers” team, which became champions five times with Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. Later, West, an All-Star in each of his 14 years as an active player, also had a hand in the team around Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant – he had steered Bryant to L.A. via a trade in the 1996 draft. As a professional and as an official: West ended up in the Hall of Fame several times.
However, an icon of the league will be remembered above all as a player – not least because West’s silhouette has been one of the world’s most recognizable logos for decades. Which, due to his passing, will probably remain the case for the time being, despite the occasional discussions about changing the logo.
