HBO's highly anticipated series on the rise of the Los Angeles Lakers during the 1980s has excited fans of the NBA who are looking forward to a deep-dive into the dynasty. One of the key figures featured in the series is former Lakers star and executive Jerry West, who was named the franchise's general manager ahead of the 1982-83 season. However, not everyone is excited about the way that West was portrayed in the series. In fact, The Logo's portrayal is drawing a major blowback, as reported by NBA reporter Marc Stein and The Athletic.
Jerry West's old office at The Fabulous Forum did not have windows to hurl objects through in anger. None of the Forum's basketball offices did.
West also, to my knowledge, did not keep his 1969 NBA Finals MVP trophy in that office. That scene Sunday night when he supposedly chucked it through glass in frustration because the Los Angeles Lakers drafted Magic Johnson over Sidney Moncrief? Total fabrication.
I'm likewise told West never played golf in a foursome with eventual Lakers owner Jerry Buss and then-Lakers general manager Bill Sharman. Even if he had, I'm quite confident that West — ever the gentleman in public — never would have broken a golf club over his knee or storm away from a putt to engage in a curse-filled shouting match with the regal Sharman.
Stein's comments on Winning Time are very relevant here because he is essentially debunking how Jerry West was portrayed in the Laker series. West chucked his 1969 NBA Finals MVP through the glass when the franchise selected Magic Johnson over Sydney Moncrief, though Stein is pushing back on that scene, as well as the one where West broke a golf club on his knee during an angry moment on the golf course.
Stein is saying that there are members of the Lakers who are unhappy with West's portrayal. Winning Time is an exciting series, though these reportedly inaccurate portrayals won't do the show's credibility any favors.