Jerry West may have been associated with the Los Angeles Lakers for over 40 years, but he currently works for the Golden State Warriors.
"The Logo" is revered in Southern California, but Lakers fans can't be happy with his latest remarks.
“Incredible fans, best fans I’ve ever seen in my life, to be honest with you," West recently told Jim Rome in reference to Warriors fans. "I’ve never seen anything like it. It just has been a thrill for me to be a part of it."
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So Warriors fans are significantly better than Lakers fans?
“Oh, much better than L.A. fans," West declared. "OK, much better. They don’t ever leave the game...
“Once we (the Lakers) moved into Staples Center, our fan base changed I thought ... Los Angeles has a lot of corporate fans there, who different people sit in different seats. You can go around Oracle Arena there right now and you will see the same people sitting in the same seats every night and it’s refreshing. But the fans in Los Angeles are great, but as I’ve said, I’ve never seen fans like this in my life.”
West played his entire 14-year career (1960-1974) for the Los Angeles Lakers, reaching the NBA Finals nine times and capturing the crown in 1972.
Golden State Warriors
He was the head coach of the Lakers from 1976 to 1979, and then a team consultant for three seasons.
West served as a Lakers executive from 1982 to 2000, where he played an instrumental part in building the teams that won the title in 1985, '87, '88, '00, '01 and '02.
There is a statue of West in front of Staples Center.
In May 2011, West joined the Warriors' front office as an Executive Board member, where he assists ownership and management in various capacities.
The Warriors have sold out 123 consecutive regular season games at Oracle Arena, and averaged over 18,000 per contest for nine straight seasons.
When NBA general managers were asked by NBA.com, "Which team has the best home-court advantage?," the Warriors received an overwhelming 65.5 percent of the vote, followed by the Thunder at 17.2 percent.