Jerry West is one of the greatest Los Angeles Lakers players of all time, creating big memories with the Purple and Gold, making it to nine NBA Finals, only winning one. West was a one-of-a-kind talent and his achievements over the years are the prime sample of that.
Great as he was with the team, West doesn’t have the best relationship with his old franchise, and they’re often engaged in back and forths. It’s unclear why the team and the former player and executive have grown apart in recent times, and not even West has found a response to this situation.
Talking with Sam Amick of The Athletic, The Logo opened up on the current status of his relationship with the team, saying that it’s awful and he doesn’t even know the reason why they don’t like each other anymore.
Yet nearly a half-century after he retired, there’s an unfortunate and unwelcome addendum to his story that he’d like to share: He wishes he could do it all over again — in a different jersey.
“One disappointing thing (about my career) is that my relationship with the Lakers is horrible,” West, a Clippers consultant since June 2017, told The Athletic. “I still don’t know why. And at the end of the day, when I look back, I say, ‘Well, maybe I should have played somewhere else instead of with the Lakers, where someone would have at least appreciated how much you give, how much you cared.’”
It’s unclear how this situation will end up, or if it’ll have a resolution anytime soon. West has been a very important figure for the Lakers’ success during the Showtime era and the early 2000s.
Even though he helped other teams be great in recent times, his love for the Lakers is undeniable. Hopefully, things can get better between the 17-time NBA champions and the man that led them to nine NBA Finals during his best years.
