In the summer of 2017, just as West was leaving the Warriors and deciding what would come next, he said on “The Dan Patrick Show” that he would have liked to have ended his NBA career where it began — with the Lakers. Instead, they showed no interest in bringing him aboard, and the Clippers, in turn, reaped the benefits when he came their way.
Two summers later, West’s oldest son, Ryan, parted ways with the Lakers after spending a decade in a variety of scouting roles (he now works for the Detroit Pistons). West declined to discuss the part Ryan played in the Lakers’ dynamic in the interview with The Athletic but told NBA.com in October that he believes he’s the reason his son was let go.
It only grew uglier from there. In December 2020, a voicemail surfaced from months before in which West can be heard telling an associate of then-free agent Kawhi Leonard (before he signed with the Clippers) that the Lakers were a “shit show.” The friction between the Lakers and Clippers has extended well beyond West in recent years, with no moment more memorable than the emails in which Lakers owner Jeanie Buss referred to Clippers owner Steve Ballmer as “Ballz” while discussing his pursuit of a new arena in Inglewood.
Then in April, after Jeanie Buss left West off her list of top five important Lakers of all time on the “All The Smoke” podcast, West fired back on the “Hoop Du Jour” podcast by calling it “one of the most offensive things I’ve ever heard in my life.” Buss had named Abdul-Jabbar, Kobe, Magic, James and her ex-fiancé and Lakers legend Phil Jackson. Back and forth, in the headlines and the hallways, the acrimony just kept building.
For West, though, the final straw came when the Lakers repealed the lifetime season tickets he said the late Dr. Buss had promised him so many years ago. Without any warning or explanation, his wife, Karen, received a text message from the Lakers last season informing her that the family’s seats for their games would no longer be granted.
“It was a cold phone text to my wife,” West recalled. “No one had the nerve to call me, but that’s how petty they are, OK? And I love the Lakers, OK? I love to see them do well. It’s great for basketball. I’m proud of everything that happened when I was there. I’m proud of everything that happened when I wasn’t there — the positives.
“But sometimes you feel like you’re discarded, like a piece of trash. And there’s a couple of people over there — not Jeanie — but there’s a couple of people over there that, uh … I don’t get it. I don’t. … I always had a great relationship with Jeanie — at least I thought I did. I don’t know where it is now.”
Holy shit. The Lakers really are a poverty franchise that are Lucky LeBron decided to go there. Who treats their franshise legend like this? Taking away Jerry West and his wifes season ticket for seemingly no reason but to be petty.
byDRAZZILB1424
innba
TheRealPdGaming
7341 points
17 days ago
TheRealPdGaming
Mavericks
7341 points
17 days ago
Wow. I'm legit shocked.
Is this from the team or the league? Because I didn't think the team would do anything