Jerry West, the True ‘GOAT’ of the Modern $76 Billion NBA, Dies at 86

Jerry West, whose Hall of Fame NBA playing career was somehow surpassed by his five-decade run as a brilliantly creative league executive, died Wednesday at the age of 86. 

From Bill Russell to Chet Walker to Bill Walton, the NBA has seen a number of its most influential players from the 1960s and '70s pass on recently. And there are already a ton of remembrances for West on the open internet, some of them from top NBA writers like Adrian Wojnarowski, who knew “The Logo” (aka "Mr. Clutch," aka "Zeke From Cabin Creak") personally. 

Also read: HBO Says 'Winning Time' Hatchet Job on Jerry West Was Based on 'Extensive Factual Research'

Me? In his last year as a Los Angeles Lakers player in 1974, West autographed miniature basketballs for me and some other kids after a game at the erstwhile “Fabulous Forum.” He didn’t smile. Even for 7-year-olds. 

And I’ll keep this short … but to a point. No way the NBA, which is about to gleefully autograph three 11-year national TV deals valued at a staggering $76 billion, gets to where it is today without West. 

For a league that stands out amid a “greatest-of-all-time”-focused sports culture as being particularly GOAT-obsessed, no other figure has influenced the game of pro basketball more, as both a player and an executive.

As an NBA championship player who participated in the Finals nine times, an Olympic Gold Medal winner and an NBA executive who led myriad teams to league titles, West was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame three times.

Jordan. Kobe. LeBron. None of them can match West's achievements as both a dominant player and executive.

Consider that West’s silhouette has adorned the very logo of the NBA since 1969. 

West was known for the frustration that came from leading the Lakers to the NBA Finals nine times, walking away as a championship player only once ... and never beating the hated Boston Celtics, to whom West and the Laker succumbed to six times during the 1960s. 

But as a team executive, his legacy is unsurpassed. 

As the Lakers top player personnel manager, West served as the architect of two championship dynasties -- the Showtime Lakers, who won five titles in the 1980s and the Shaq-Kobe Lakers, who dominated the early 2000s with three consecutive Finals victories. 

In the summer of 1996, he audaciously dismantled a 53-win Lakers roster to make room for some high-school player he'd discovered (Kobe Bryant) and a free agent (Shaquille O'Neal) who had seemed immovable from his perch with the Orlando Magic. The moves constituted the core of a juggernaut that dominated the league in the early aughts. 

And it will always stand out as a singular moment of architectural brilliance in professional sports. 

But West had many great moments. 

He later moved onto executive roles with the Memphis Grizzlies, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Clippers, upgrading each franchise into title contenders, and aiding the construction of yet another championship dynasty in Golden State. 

“He helped build eight championship teams during his tenure in the NBA — a legacy of achievement that mirrors his on-court excellence,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “And 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. I valued my friendship with Jerry and the knowledge he shared with me over many years about basketball and life.”

Here were some other remembrances of and tributes to West on X from Wednesday: