Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West said in an interview published Tuesday that his relationship with his former team is “horrible.”
“One disappointing thing [about my career] is that my relationship with the Lakers is horrible,” the 83-year-old said in an interview with 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.'”
For Jerry West, the final straw with the Lakers came when they repealed the lifetime season tickets he said the late Dr. Buss had promised him.
“It was a cold phone text to my wife.”
Exclusive with @sam_amick: https://t.co/o6nhhnX5pF pic.twitter.com/SPDfAjKOwj
— The Athletic NBA (@TheAthleticNBA) February 1, 2022
West played 14 seasons with the Lakers, being named an All-Star in every season. He helped lead the team to an NBA championship win in 1972. He was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1979 and was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History in 1997, according to NBA.com. In his 18 years with the Lakers front office, he also helped lead them to another four championships.
The team retired his jersey in 1983. A statue of his likeness has resided outside Crypto.com Arena since 2011.
In April 2021, Lakers CEO Jeannie Buss left West off her list of the five most important Lakers in the team’s history. In response, West described it as “one of the most offensive things” he’s “ever heard” in his “life.” (RELATED: ‘Shocking Moral Indifference’: Tom Cotton Goes After Warriors Owner For Dismissing Uyghur Genocide).
Jerry West, Lakers legend as player, coach and exec, says NBA team now treats him like ‘piece of trash’https://t.co/iqG9DI0pMh
— Fox News (@FoxNews) February 2, 2022
Now a consultant with the Los Angeles Clippers, West told The Athletic he does not see the relationship being fixed.
“No, it’s too late; it’s too late,” he said. “I don’t need to do that, OK? I really don’t need [it]. It’s just [bothersome] how people change so much. And I don’t understand it, but it’s fine. It’s fine.”