Report: Jerry West had interest in Lakers return, didn’t match Jeanie Buss’ vision

In a not-too-distant parallel universe, The Logo would be back in the Los Angeles Lakers front office right now.

According to a report by Kevin Ding of Bleacher Report, Lakers legend Jerry West had interest in a return to the team, but he didn’t match president Jeanie Buss’ vision for the future.

The 78-year-old West is of course as a big of a Lakers franchise icon as there is, playing his entire NBA career with the team from 1960 to 1974 (winning one NBA championship), coaching them from 1976 to 1979, and serving as their general manager from 1982 to 1994 and their executive vice president from 1995 to 2000 (overseeing four more titles in the process). His son Ryan is also currently the Lakers director of player personnel.

While the elder West is now an executive board member of the Pacific Division rival Golden State Warriors, a homecoming would have made for quite the intriguing endgame. But Buss elected to hire a more new school duo to call the shots in the Lakers front office, bridging the gap between forward thinking and the old vanguard. Only time will tell if she made the right decision in telling Mr. Clutch thanks but no thanks.