As the NBA world mourns former player and Hall of Famer Jerry West, they also remember the legacy that he left behind. A significant part of that legacy was the Los Angeles Lakers, the team to whom the late icon devoted the entirety of his 14-year career as a player while also serving as its coach for an additional 3 years. He took up the General Manager position within the Lakers during the 80s, guiding the franchise’s iconic ‘Showtime‘ era. Despite his overall contribution, the relationship between West and the Lakers started to fall apart after his exit in 2000. As tributes began pouring in after the 86-year-old’s unexpected death, one sports analyst was not satisfied with how the LA franchise handled things.

A few hours ago, renowned media personality Colin Cowherd released another episode of his show. With ‘Hoops Tonight’ anchor Jason Timpf again joining in as co-host, the duo gave their tribute by remembering the contributions of Jerry West. At the same time, however, Cowherd highlighted his belief that the Lakers “butchered” their response to Jerry West’s death since it reportedly took them about “four to five hours” to send out something. While the feud between the late NBA official and the Lakers Management, including owner Jeanie Buss, was quite publicly known, the host did not like that people within the franchise would choose to be “petty” even on such a solemn occasion.

“I thought they were really petty on his death,” said Cowherd. “You can be petty in life, but don’t be petty when someone dies. Tell your ex-wife, your ex-husband if they pass, that’s the day you show some grace in class, right?” Jason Timpf himself agreed, stating that one should be “expecting more than that”.

According to reports, the LA Clippers, and not the Lakers, announced West’s death through their communications department. Steve Ballmer, the Clippers owner, gave a personalized tribute before anything could be heard from the Lakers side. Eventually, a statement came from the franchise that read, “Jerry West is forever a basketball icon … Jerry West will always be a Lakers legend.” Later, Jeanie Buss herself took to social media to pay tribute. According to the Los Angeles Times, while the tribute was classified as “nice“, it was reportedly not on par with how the franchise honored other icons like Elgin Baylor and Tex Winter upon their passing.

The rift with the Lakers convinced Jerry West to classify their relationship as ‘Horrible’

Not much is known about the feud’s origins between the late Jerry West and the Los Angeles Lakers. According to reports, however, the same can be traced back to when the former player left the organization as general manager and took his talents to the Memphis Grizzles in 2002. West kept shifting between different teams but didn’t choose to return to his mothership.

As 2017 approached, West had decided to join forces with the LA Clippers. At the same time, his son Ryan had been working as the ‘director of player personnel’ for the Lakers. However, after a decade of being with the organization, he was unexpectedly relieved of his duties. In an interview with NBA.com, Jerry West attributed his son’s exit to the growing tensions between himself and the basketball team.  West was once again in the news in 2022 after it was revealed that the Lakers decided to revoke the lifetime tickets that were promised to him by Dr. Jerry Buss, Jeanie’s late father. Remembering this caused him to be upset during an interview, after which he stated, “No one had the nerve to call me, but that’s how petty they are, OK?”

The final straw, however, came when Jeanie Buss was interviewed with ‘All the Smoke Podcast’. She left West’s name off the list when asked to name the top 5 most important Lakers of all time. Deeply hurt, the Hall of Famer did not choose to mince any words moving forward.

“One disappointing thing [about my career] is that my relationship with the Lakers is horrible,” said West during 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.’”

The differences between Jerry West and the Los Angeles Lakers should have perished with the former player’s passing. However, from what Colin Cowherd highlighted, the same is not valid.

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