Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West was anything but happy when he found out Jeanie Buss had left him out of the top 5 most important Lakers of all-time list. This list was controversial for a lot of people, and it sparked a lot of reactions.
Shaquille O’Neal was one of those talking about it, but making it clear that was Buss’ opinion and nothing else. Well, West didn’t take things so kindly, and he fired at the Lakers owner for ‘disrespecting’ him and all the things he did for the purple and gold.
The Logo joined Hoop Du Jour Podcast with Peter Vescey this week to discuss various topics and he didn’t miss his chance to talk about Jeanie and her controversial list.
“I saw the other day Jeanie Buss made a statement, the five most important Lakers, one of the most offensive things I’ve ever heard in my life. I was there a lot of times, had a lot of success,” West told Vescey, via CBS Los Angeles. “Be curious to know if they would have had that success if I hadn’t been there.”
“And I don’t ever take credit for stuff, I don’t. When I was around, maybe I was just a good luck charm,” West went on. “But I do know, that when this thing fell apart, there was a lot of years where they weren’t very good.”
He is one of the most important figures in Lakers history. Although he had bad luck as a player, only winning one title with the purple and gold, West became one of the best executives the team had.
Jerry served as the team GM from 1982 through 2000, making big moves, including the signing of Shaquille O’Neal and the trade that sent Kobe Bryant to L.A.
Right now, he’s working with the Clippers, taking a couple of shots at the Lakers in recent times. Still, nobody can take anything away from this man and what he did for the franchise.
