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He was a sharpshooting, high-scoring Corridor of Fame guard for the Lakers and later an government with the group. His picture grew to become the N.B.A.’s emblem.
Jerry West, who emerged from West Virginia coal nation to develop into one among basketball’s biggest gamers, a signature determine within the historical past of the Los Angeles Lakers and a literal icon of the game — his is the silhouette on the emblem of the Nationwide Basketball Affiliation — died on Wednesday. He was 86.
The Los Angeles Clippers introduced his loss of life however offered no different particulars. West was a marketing consultant for the group in recent times.
For 4 many years, first as a participant and later as a scout, a coach and an government, West performed a formidable position within the evolution of the N.B.A. generally and the Lakers specifically, starting in 1960, when the group moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles and he was its first draft selection.
He gained championships with a number of generations of Laker groups and Laker stars and was an all-star in every of his 14 seasons. However aside from his longtime teammate, the good ahead Elgin Baylor, who retired with no championship, there might have by no means been a larger participant who suffered the persistent close-but-no-cigar frustration that adopted West for the majority of his profession on the courtroom.
Throughout his tenure, the Lakers buzzed virtually perpetually across the championship, however West had the misfortune to play whereas the Boston Celtics, with Bill Russell at middle, had been on the top of their indomitability — they beat the Lakers within the finals six occasions.
It wasn’t till the Lakers acquired their very own big, Wilt Chamberlain, that they triumphed, however even that took 4 seasons — and a seventh defeat within the finals, to the Knicks in 1970 — to perform.
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