Jerry West is leaving the NBA champion Golden State Warriors to join forces with the Clippers, and the natural question is why. He provided an answer in an interview Thursday morning: the people.
The allure of working with Clippers owners Steve Ballmer and Dennis Wong, as well as coach Doc Rivers, is what pulled West back to Los Angeles. Ballmer and Wong, friends since their college days at Harvard, were instrumental in pulling off the coup to get West.
Wong, who owns a small percentage of the Clippers, played a pivotal role. He once had a small ownership stake with the Warriors and saw how West worked wonders in his six years with that team, helping turn Golden State into today’s NBA power. Read more at Los Angeles Times.
Combine a deadly jump shot, tenacious defense, obsessive perfectionism, unabashed confidence, and an uncompromising will to win, and you've got Jerry West, one of the greatest guards in NBA history.
During his 14-year playing career with the Los Angeles Lakers, West became synonymous with brilliant basketball. He was the third player in league history to reach 25,000 points (after Wilt Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson). He was an All-Star every year of his career and led Los Angeles to the NBA Finals nine times. He left the game holding records for career postseason scoring and the highest average in a playoff series. Learn more at NBA.com.
View Jerry West’s career stats, game logs, biographical info, awards, and achievements for the NBA and NCAA at Basketball-reference.com.