Jerry West dies at 86: LeBron James, Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, more remember Lakers legend (2024)

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Has Jerry West passed away? ›

And so, the NBA is now missing a major contributor who helped shape the league. West died Wednesday at age 86. “I valued my friendship with Jerry and the knowledge he shared with me over many years about basketball and life.” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement.

His list of personal and team accomplishments is perhaps the most awesome in league history: Rookie of the Year, member of six NBA championship teams, six-time NBA MVP, two-time NBA Finals MVP, 19-time All-Star, two-time scoring champion, and a member of the NBA 35th and 50th Anniversary All-Time Teams.

Bill Russell holds the record for most NBA rings with 11.

West's gripes with the show are many, but they all center around his belief Winning Time is selling viewers lies as truth. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar provided a statement in West's letter contending West never threw his 1969 NBA Finals MVP trophy through his office window or broke any golf clubs.

Goggles were no laughing matter to Abdul-Jabbar, who began wearing them in the 1970s after suffering repeated eye injuries. “It certainly kept my career on line," he told The Times in 1994. "If I hadn't worn goggles, I would've retired early. My face was right in the area where people were swinging at the ball.

With 38 points in a 133-130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, LeBron James eclipsed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 34-year-old NBA career scoring record, officially earning the distinction as the best scorer in NBA history.

Robert Parish is the third-oldest player to ever play in the NBA. The oldest player ever to play in the NBA was Nat Hickey who played one game in the 1947–48 season when he was 45 years and 363 days old.

After being hospitalized at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center with an undisclosed form of cancer, he died of kidney failure on February 18, 2013, aged 80.

Still, you could never quite get the Mountain State out of the boy—he chose West Virginia as his burial spot, and it's anybody's guess how many mountain staters will turn out when he is laid to rest.

Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame three times in a legendary career as a player and executive and whose silhouette is considered to be the basis of the NBA logo, died Wednesday morning on June 12, 2024, the Los Angeles Clippers announced. He was 86.

Does Jerry West have a ring? ›

Jerry West could have played more than 14 seasons but didn't want to "sacrifice my standards." Nine times in his 14 seasons West's Lakers made the finals: They lost eight, the first six times to the Celtics. He got his only NBA title in the Lakers' record-setting 1971-72 season, but championships never defined him.