Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West dies at age 86

Jerry West (Barry Bregman, Wikimedia Commons)

According to Amy Woodyatt, Jill Martin and Kevin Dotson of CNN on Wednesday, Basketball Hall of Famer Jerry West of Chelyan, West Virginia has passed away at the age of 86. He is the second Hall of Famer to pass away in the last week. Chet Walker passed away on Saturday.

A star guard with the Los Angeles Lakers from 1960 to 1974, West played 932 regular season games in the National Basketball Association. He averaged 27 points per game, 6.7 assists per game, and 5.8 rebounds per game. West had a field goal percentage of .474 and a free throw percentage of .814. Every season West played in the NBA, he was an All-Star. He led the NBA in points per game with 31.2 in 1969-70, assists per game with 9.7 in 1971-72, and free throws made (840 in 1965-66 and 647 in 1969-70). The 840 free throws made in 1965-66 are the most in a single season by any NBA player ever.

West was even better in the playoffs as he averaged 29.1 points per game when games mattered most. In 1965, he averaged a remarkable 40.6 points per game. In the 1965 Western Division Finals, a series the Lakers won in six games over the Baltimore Bullets, West averaged 46.3 points per game, setting the record for the largest points per game average in a single NBA playoff series.

West’s lone NBA Finals victory came in 1972. The Lakers beat the New York Knicks in five games. He was the NBA Finals MVP in 1969 despite the fact the Lakers lost in seven games to the Boston Celtics. In addition to winning the 1972 NBA Finals, West was part of Team USA that won a gold medal in men’s basketball at the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome.

In 1983, West’s number 44 was retired by the Lakers, and in 1980 was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame. After his playing career, West won four NBA Finals with the Lakers as a general manager (1985, 1987, 1988, 2000). He was being inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame as a builder in 2024.

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