The remarkable life of Jerry West. Plus, Kristaps Porziņģis’ status & Caitlin Clark’s snub

LOS ANGELES, CA - 1987: Jerry West, General Manager of the Los Angeles Lakers, sits at his desk circa 1987 at The Forum in Los Angeles, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 1987 NBAE (Photo by Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
By Zach Harper
Jun 12, 2024

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Few people impacted basketball more than “The Logo.”

Rest in Peace, Jerry West

Basketball lost an icon today

This morning, the Clippers announced Jerry West passed away peacefully earlier today at the age of 86 years old. I’m not even sure how you describe the impact West had on the game of basketball. He was inducted into the Dr. James Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame three times. That’s right. West was inducted as a player in 1980 and as a member of the 1960 Team USA Olympic squad in 2010. Later this year, he’ll be included in the 2024 class as a contributor to the game of basketball for everything he accomplished as an executive and beyond after his playing days.

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West was nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” because, early on, he was the star you wanted with the ball in his hands and the game on the line. The 1969 NBA Finals MVP’s silhouette was the inspiration for the iconic NBA logo you’ve seen for decades. He earned All-NBA honors 12 times, was an All-Star 14 times, named to the All-Defense team five times, and won the 1972 championship — finally breaking through after struggling so many times in the Finals when going  against the Bill Russell-led Celtics. West remains the only player in history to win NBA Finals MVP despite losing the series (averaged 37.9 points and 7.4 assists in 1969 NBA Finals).

He later became the architect of so many championship teams for the Lakers as their lead executive. He brought Shaquille O’Neal to Hollywood in 1996. That same year, West traded for Kobe Bryant, a kid out of high school who ended up becoming arguably the most iconic Laker in franchise history, as another dynasty formed in Los Angeles.

We’ll have more about West’s life and legacy throughout the week, but this is an incredibly sad time for the NBA.

The Bounce, M.D.

How Kristaps Porziņģis’ injury swings series

We received ample medical jargon about Kristaps Porziņģis’ injury from Boston’s Game 2 victory over the Mavericks to grab a 2-0 lead in the NBA Finals. You should grab your glasses for the word-for-word diagnosis of his ailment: “torn medial retinaculum allowing dislocation of the posterior tibialis tendon.”

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You probably know what that means, but juuust in case you don’t, we’ll break it down to make it easier to explain it to your friends in layman’s terms.

Jeff Stotts, whom you should follow on Twitter (@instreetclothes), is one of the best at explaining injuries and has an extensive database of injuries and potential absence timetables based on past athletes. He explains the medial retinaculum in Porziņģis’ foot (of course, we ALL know there’s also one in the knee, but I didn’t want to confuse anybody) tearing creates instability in that foot and allows the posterior tibialis tendon to move around and dislocate. That instability causes pain in the foot. Stotts noted only one similar example in his database, but it accompanied multiple traumatic ankle injuries that required surgery.

That’s how unprecedented this injury is for Porziņģis and the Celtics. Boston coach Joe Mazzulla said the Celtics aren’t giving Porziņģis’ the option to play through it. The good news is this issue doesn’t appear to be related to the calf injury he recently missed 38 days with. The bad news is this may not simply be a matter of pain management for Porziņģis. It may just omit him from the rest of the NBA Finals completely. Porziņģis will want to play, but the Celtics will try to figure out what’s best for him. For now, they’re calling it a day-to-day issue for the 28-year-old 7-footer.

What does this mean for the NBA Finals? In a word for Dallas: hope. The Celtics outscored the Mavericks by 13 points in Game 1 with Porziņģis on the floor. They won that matchup by 18 points, so it would’ve theoretically been a much closer game, if we trust plus-minus metrics in a vacuum (it’s not the most educated method, but this is a thought experiment for now). In Game 2, the Celtics outscored the Mavs by 12 points in the 23 minutes Porziņģis played. They won that game by seven, which marks a much bigger swing against Dallas.

Without Porziņģis on the floor, it means more Al Horford, and the Celtics haven’t been quite as effective on both ends of the floor with the 38-year-old out there. Not to mention: Porziņģis not playing takes away a big rim protection threat for Boston. Sure, they still have Jaylen Brown and Derrick White blocking shots, but Porziņģis induces hesitation from attacking the rim nobody else will. The Mavs figured out how to dominate the paint in Game 2. Without as much rim protection for Boston, we could see them really exploit that to their advantage. The good news for the Celtics is they’ve played great basketball without Porziņģis in the playoffs so far. Oh, and they’ve yet to lose a road game.

Olympic Snub? Not So Much

Why Caitlin Clark won’t be on Team USA

As Shams told us over the weekend, Caitlin Clark will not be among the 12 selected for Team USA’s Women’s roster for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris this summer. Immediately, this seemed a little crazy because she’s the biggest name in women’s basketball right now, one of the biggest names in basketball period, and you’d like to see her get in the mix with the Team USA program early and often.

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However, looking at the place of Team USA basketball and the players selected, Clark’s omission seems plenty reasonable. Team USA’s roster is LOADED, especially at the guard position. The Americans are taking six guards to Paris: Diana Taurasi, Kelsey Plum, Jackie Young, Sabrina Ionescu, Jewell Lloyd and Chelsea Gray. Maybe you could argue Clark’s place over Lloyd, but the latter is a decorated winner in the WNBA and in international competition, including her 2020 Olympic gold medal. On top of that, this isn’t like the NBA, where a good number of the best players are foreign. Almost every top player in the WNBA is American. The women’s talent pool is just more concentrated.

In the previous Olympics, Team USA won its first game over Nigeria by nine before proceeding to win every following game by double digits. They pretty much cruised to the gold medal and expect to do so again in Paris. To provide further context to why Team USA might not want to work a rookie into the mix this time, consider this:

Unlike the NBA, the WNBA is pausing its season for Olympic competition. That means Team USA really only has roughly seven practices in order to get on the same page before games start. Clark is just 22 years old and will have plenty of opportunities to be on Team USA, grow into an international star, and gather as much gold as Scrooge McDuck might hoard. Until then, she’ll have to wait her turn and watch … and maybe use that as some fire in future matchups.

Bounce Passes

Jovan Buha joined “Hoops Adjacent” to discuss the Lakers’ coaching situation.

Everybody hates late foul whistles in games, but there’s actually a reason for it.

How does Derrick White’s block on P.J Washington measure up in playoff history?

(Top photo: Andrew D. Bernstein / Getty Images )

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Zach Harper

Zach Harper is a staff writer for The Athletic, covering the NBA. Zach joined The Athletic after covering the NBA for ESPN.com, CBS Sports and FRS Sports since 2009. He also hosts radio for SiriusXM NBA and SiriusXM Mad Dog Sports Radio. Follow Zach on Twitter @talkhoops