Hall Of Famer Jerry West, Inspiration For NBA Logo, Dead At 86

Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West , a former NBA champion, NBA Finals MVP and regular-season MVP with the Minneapolis/ Los Angeles Lakers and the inspiration for the NBA logo, has died at the age of 86, the Los Angeles Clippers, who West worked for as an executive board member, announced via ESPN 's Tim Bontemps on Wednesday (June 12).

"The Clippers announced that NBA legend Jerry West passed away this morning at the age of 86," Bontemps wrote on his X account.

West was the third player in NBA history to score more than 25,000 points and selected to the All-Star Game during every season of his 14-year NBA career, all of which were spent with the Lakers, which included an NBA championship in 1972.

West coached the Lakers for three seasons and later found success as an NBA executive after his retirement from playing, building the Showtime Lakers team in the 1980s, which won five NBA titles and leading in the acquisitions of Hall of Famers Shaquille O'Neal -- signed as a free agent -- and Kobe Bryant -- via a draft night trade with the Charlotte Hornets -- in 1996, having stayed for the first of the duo's three consecutive championships before departing in 2000.

West later worked in the front offices of the Memphis Grizzlies and Golden State Warriors before becoming an adviser to the Clippers in 2017, which included overseeing the acquisitions of All-Stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George , who led the franchise to its first Western Conference Finals appearance in 2021.

West was a two-time All-American at West Virginia, averaging 24.8 points per game while leading the Mountaineers to an appearance in the 1959 NCAA National Championship Game and won a gold medal for Team USA in the 1960 Rome Olympics.