Jerry West is in the NBA’s DNA. A longtime league executive, the 79-year-old West was once one of the league’s brightest stars. A Hall of Famer, West has one distinction that is his alone in the basketball world: he is reportedly the player represented in the NBA logo, an image as widely associated with basketball as Michael Jordan‘s billion-dollar “Jumpman” silhouette. West’s various tenures in front offices around the league have tended to be as winning as his hey-day jump shot. He has been a special consultant to the NBA champion Golden State Warriors for the last six years, having previously run the Grizzlies and Lakers.
Now West is heading back to LA, lured by the prospect of once again shaping a champion out of very promising raw materials. West will go to work for Steve Ballmer’s Los Angeles Clippers, a team loaded with talent that has failed to triumph in the Western Conference. West will inherit Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan, along with Blake Griffin — a player thought to have MVP-level talent but who, despite much success, hasn’t yet reached his potential. The Clippers have lost in the first round of the NBA playoffs in consecutive seasons. West — whose other nickname besides “the logo” is “Mr. Clutch” — will help Griffin and company try to break the trend.
Statement from Warriors owner Joe Lacob on the departure of Jerry West, who has been in deep talks with the Clippers pic.twitter.com/aN9muYGy28
— Sam Amick (@sam_amick) June 15, 2017
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