LAS VEGAS — The NBA summer league in Las Vegas started off with a touching tribute to the legendary Jerry West.
Prior to the tip of the first game between the Minnesota Timberwolves and New Orleans Pelicans, a nearly 20-minute tribute was held for West, who died on June 12 at 86.
A three-minute video tribute played before Rod Thorn and Mitch Kupchak talked about one of their closest friends.
“When you look at Jerry, you are looking at one of the greatest players in the history of the game,” said Thorn, who played with West at West Virginia. “Certainly goes down as one of the two or three greatest general managers in the history of the game. A combination you don’t see very often.
“… When I was a sophomore, junior in high school, he was my idol. It’s a tremendous loss for not only the basketball community but also this country. A great man and I can’t say enough about all the great times we had and how wonderful he was to me.”
The Hall of Famer, who was a consultant for the Clippers for the last seven years, was a constant presence at Summer League and loved being at the Thomas & Mack Center to watch the next wave of stars from a courtside seat along the baseline.
The Las Vegas Summer League placed a shirt displaying West and the phrase “The Soul of Summer League” atop the courtside seat where West used to watch games from. A large Dairy Queen cup, representing West’s favorite treat, was on the chair too.
“The one thing that Jerry would love to do… he wanted to get out and go watch kids play,” said Kupchak, a former Laker who later joined West in the team’s front office. “[He would often say] hey Mitch, let’s go to San Diego and watch San Diego State play. Let’s go up to Santa Barbara, Brian Shaw is playing at Santa Barbara tonight. Let’s go to the UCLA game or the Loyola Marymount game. That is the one thing, he loved to sit in the crowd and watch a kid play.
“He would love sit right there, and have the players come up to him and he would love to watch and he would take notes too. That was his passion.”
During last month’s NBA Draft, the Clippers placed West’s favorite snacks on an empty seat in their draft war room to honor him over both nights. He loved the entire draft process and had a legendary eye for finding talent like Kobe Bryant.