The Jerry West: The Logo documentary was released on Prime Video on April 16, and its director, Kenya Barris, appeared on the latest episode of The Winning Formula Podcast. Michael Jordan was among those Barris interviewed for the documentary, and he revealed that the Chicago Bulls icon has Jerry West in his trinity of guards.
“He said something that didn’t make the doc,” Barris said. “He said, in his mind… how he sort of sees the NBA, if there was a trinity, it would be Jerry, him, and Kobe [Bryant]. And when he said that, it pivoted everything for me. Because I saw immediately what he meant. He didn’t have to say another word. I understood… Just ice cold on the court.
“Left it all out on the floor,” Barris continued. “Hated to lose, competitive beyond all belief. And at the same time, in life, that same focus is why they all were each able to sort of be successful.”
Like Jordan and Kobe Bryant, West had an obsession with winning. He was incredibly competitive and ridiculously clutch, earning the nickname Mr. Clutch.
Unfortunately for West, he just ran into those great Bill Russell-led Boston Celtics teams in the 1960s. The Celtics had one too many Hall of Famers among their ranks, and they beat West’s Los Angeles Lakers six times in the NBA Finals in the decade. He gave those great teams an almighty scare, though.
West famously won Finals MVP in 1969 despite the Celtics winning in seven games. It wasn’t undeserved either, as he averaged an astonishing 37.9 points per game in that series.
West’s misery wouldn’t end even after the Celtics were out of the picture. He’d lose in the Finals on two more occasions to the New York Knicks in 1970 and 1973. It meant he staggeringly lost eight times in the NBA Finals. West and the Lakers did manage to beat the Knicks in the 1972 NBA Finals, so he did at least walk away with some silverware.
All those defeats meant, though, that West’s resume isn’t anywhere near as impressive as that of Jordan, who won six titles, six Finals MVPs, five MVPs, one DPOY, and 10 scoring titles. That hasn’t stopped the latter from recognizing just how special a player the former was.
West passed away in 2024 at the age of 86, and Jordan was among those who paid tribute to the great man.
“I am so deeply saddened at the news of Jerry’s passing. He was truly a friend and a mentor. Like an older brother to me. I valued his friendship and knowledge. I always wished I could have played against him as a competitor, but the more I came to know him, I wish I had been his teammate. I admired his basketball insights and he and I shared many similarities to how we approached the game.”
There were so many similarities, and that’s the case when it comes to Bryant as well. He remains the closest thing we have seen to Jordan. Bryant idolized him as he was growing up and even copied his mannerisms. He ended up having a phenomenal career, too, winning five titles, two Finals MVPs, one MVP, and two scoring titles.
