Crowning the all-time greatest Los Angeles Laker might be the toughest task among every franchise in professional sports history.
Winning 17 NBA championships, many of the game’s greatest players have donned the purple and gold. A collection of talent that is arguably matched by none, including Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Shaquille O’Neal and Wilt Chamberlain.
Advertisement
Even with all the legendary Lakers, it would be hard to argue that anyone has had a greater impact on the team’s 80-year history than Jerry West, who was born 88 years ago today.
The Hall of Famer known as the NBA logo was born May 28, 1938, in Chelyan, West Virginia. West would spend his entire pre-Laker life in the state, including a storied career at West Virginia University. West was named first-team All-American twice (1959, 1960) and won the gold medal as co-captain of Team USA at the 1960 Olympics in Italy.
Days before announcing they were relocating to Los Angeles, the Minneapolis Lakers drafted the West Virginia icon with the No. 2 overall pick in the 1960 NBA Draft.
Advertisement
Jerry West played 14 years, all in Los Angeles, where he was an NBA champion, 14-time All-Star, 10-time first-team All-NBA selection, five-time All-Defensive Team selection, scoring champion and assists leader. Upon his retirement in 1974, the man nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” was considered one of the best, but most tormented, to ever play.
West played in the NBA Finals nine times and, despite outstanding performances, the Lakers lost eight times. His one championship finally came in 1972. West lost his first six championship appearances, many in heartbreaking fashion, to the great Boston Celtics dynasty of the 1960s. Despite outstanding performances, including still being the only player in NBA history to be named Finals MVP on the losing team (1969), West was never able to conquer his bitter rival. His playing career, while great, was also remembered for tragic losses.
Fortunately for Lakers fans, that’s not where “The Logo’s” story ends.
Advertisement
West would go on to be a cornerstone piece in the Lakers’ success in the 1980s and 2000s, exorcising the demons of his playing days.
After a stint coaching the team in the 1970s, West moved to the Lakers front office, becoming general manager in 1982 and playing an integral role in the creation and success of the “Showtime” Lakers of the 1980s. Led by Magic Johnson on the court, the team won five championships in the decade.
In the 1990s, West was responsible for building one of the NBA’s all-time dominant teams by hiring Phil Jackson, trading on draft night to acquire 18-year-old Kobe Bryant and personally recruiting Shaquille O’Neal to Los Angeles. That team won three straight championships in the early 2000s.
Though West had left the Lakers by the 2009 and 2010 championships, the trophies were won by the coach and player he originally made Lakers.
Advertisement
It is fair to argue that West is responsible for every Lakers championship in Los Angeles besides 2020. If you take the entire career from player, coach and executive, there is no doubt who the greatest Laker ever is.
Jerry West, the only person to be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame three times for his different contributions to basketball, sadly passed away June 12, 2024, at 86 years old.
This story was originally published by Men’s Journal on May 28, 2026, where it first appeared in the Sports section. Add Men’s Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
See More: https://www.ubirataonline.com.br
