Jerry West says he didn’t want to leave Warriors: ‘I was very happy there’
The Logo apparently would have liked to stay in the Bay.
In an interview with Tim Kawakami of The Athletic that ran on Tuesday, West opened up about his departure from the Golden State Warriors.
“Frankly it was very sad, OK? It really was,” said the Basketball Hall of Famer. “A place where I thought that if I was going to work another year or if somebody wanted me to work another year, I thought I could contribute; I did not want to leave. I did not want to leave. I was very happy there.
“But those things happen sometimes,” he went on. “Obviously to be around a bunch of players as together as any I’ve seen and I think more importantly the talent that was on that team and to see the joy. There’s a lot of joy there. I think those are the kind of environments where people really prosper.”
West, 79, spent the last six years as an executive for the Dubs, but he left this summer to join the rival LA Clippers in an advisory role. However, it’s now clear that the Clippers gig wasn’t West’s first or even his second choice job.