Jerry West found catharsis in Kenya Barris

Jerry West’s legend was so nicely established when he retired from the Los Angeles Lakers in 1974 that he’d already been the inspiration for the NBA’s brand. Half a century later, West stays seventh all-time in factors per sport and holds the points-per-game document for a playoff collection, numbers even more exceptional because he did it without the three-point shot.

But, of course, West wasn’t performed. As a scout and basic supervisor, he was a key architect of the Showtime Lakers groups of the Nineteen Eighties and later acquired both Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to construct another dynasty. West also was an government for the Golden State Warriors in their heyday, offering essential advice on participant personnel.

Through it all, however, West struggled with depression and a sense of self-loathing, and had bother with intimacy, a lot of it a by-product of a hardscrabble childhood in West Virginia with a domineering father.

That dichotomy, his outer success and internal turmoil, are the guts of “Jerry West: The Logo,” a new documentary for Prime Video, from “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, directing his first documentary.

“I’m from L.A. and was a fan of the Showtime Lakers growing up,” Barris says, so he put his identify in for the project figuring he’d at least get to meet a hero. “But we immediately hit it off and I felt a kinship with him.”

That potential to join was half of West’s magic, as attested to by the string of NBA legends who pay tribute to him in the documentary, including Lakers such as Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Pat Riley and O’Neal, along with Steph Curry and Michael Jordan.

Vlade Divac was traded by West to secure the rights to Bryant, but he chosen West to introduce him at his Hall of Fame induction. In a current telephone interview, Divac praised West as “a father figure when you needed it and a friend when you needed it. He was very honest and he cared about people and helped you achieve your goals. He’s one of the best guys I ever met. Period.”

Barris, who did in depth interviews with West before the Laker icon died in 2024, spoke by video not too long ago about making the documentary, which also contains NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledging for the first time that West was the game’s brand. This dialog has been edited for size and readability.

Jerry had already opened up about his life in his memoir, “West by West,” but do you suppose this was still cathartic for him?

His ebook actually drew me to doing the documentary because it was so trustworthy. I feel the concept of him really saying these issues out loud in entrance of a digicam with his children and his grandkids around was a catharsis for him.

Did he really feel he was nearing the end?

Jerry would say, “I feel like I’m in God’s waiting room.” He didn’t like getting previous because he was so a lot in contact with his physique as an athlete — he may soar larger and run farther than his buddies. When I first met him, he was on the treadmill and jogging with weights. He was in his 80s but was saying, “I used to be able to jog with more weights.”

He was feeling previous but I don’t suppose that he thought he was about to go.

Was he aggravated by his depiction in HBO’s Lakers collection “Winning Time,” which generated controversy in 2022?

The show was entertaining, but it actually bothered him and he didn’t suppose it was honest. I feel that collection may’ve pushed him into wanting to do this, if I’m being utterly trustworthy.

“Jerry would say, ‘I feel like I’m in God’s waiting room,’” said director Kenya Barris, who performed in depth interviews with the Lakers legend before his death in 2024.

(Prime)

He and his household discuss brazenly on digicam about his mental health points. Was it arduous to stability that tonally with his great accomplishments in basketball?

I didn’t need to make one thing that was morose or a melodrama. But it will not be full if he didn’t discuss about the struggles. When I first met him, he was just popping out of a depression and anybody who’s ever been through that understands that it’s really a wrestle. So forming a entire image of who this character was was actually important. And also it was important for his household because they lived through this with him as nicely. They had been unhappy to see him endure, but they’d suffered through it too.

We needed to actually discuss about who this character was and what fashioned him. Most of who we’re is fashioned between the ages of 0 and 12 and in those years, Jerry noticed a lot and went through a lot of stuff.

When his older brother was killed in Korea and his father put the casket by the Christmas tree …

That was loopy. If we may get the viewers to perceive who this man was, it will give them empathy for every part after.

As a GM [general manager], he was a white man in this predominantly Black sport, but he got here in with a chip on his shoulder, too, and he noticed these younger gamers who hadn’t had strong father figures and got here from socioeconomically disadvantaged locations like he did and he was in a position to construct real relationships with them.

He didn’t need to discuss about it a lot in the doc, but he did a lot for civil rights and for gamers’ advocacy of the NBA, for the Black gamers, who didn’t have the same voice that he had. But he did it quietly.

Jerry West signed Shaquille O’Neal to the Lakers in 1996 after 4 years with the Orlando Magic. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)

Jerry West, left, Kobe Bryant and Lakers head coach Del Harris in 1997. Bryant was acquired in a commerce for Vlade Divac. (Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)

One factor the documentary avoids is the contentious relationship with Phil Jackson — who isn’t even talked about — and the trigger of West’s departure from the Lakers proper after he constructed that dynasty. Did he not need to talk about it?

We spoke about it. You can’t have that long a profession and not rack up some controversial issues. But I didn’t need this to be a salacious look at the destructive accounts. I obtained in there the concept of a pressure with the Lakers, but I needed to make sure to not defile that relationship based upon sure issues that I wasn’t going to dig into. It was not a gotcha kind of documentary. It was more of a tribute to him.

People have puzzled if he had stayed on, whether or not he may have stopped the connection between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal from going south, and I’d have been to know what he thought.

We did discuss about that. He believes that he may have gotten them to keep together and he said that he believes they may have gone on and gained 4 or 5 more championships.