Jerry West became a Laker the year the team moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles. For the next 14 seasons, West established himself as one of the best players in the world, and stayed with the Lakers for all 14 of those years. West became synonymous with the Lakers. This week, West admitted to Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News on “The TK Show” that he would have left the team if he had been able to (transcribed by Kurt Helin of NBC Sports):
“I remember years ago, if I had an opportunity to leave the Lakers I would have left, for one reason: because I did not like an owner that was not telling me the truth. It would have made no difference what they would have offered me, I would have left. It’s easy to say after the fact, but players have earned the right to go where they want to go.”
At the time, the Lakers were owned by Jack Kent Cooke. What West means when he says “if I had an opportunity” is this: The NBA didn’t have a free agency until 1996 — 25 years after West had retired. Without free agency, players didn’t have the option to leave their team for another franchise.
