How Jerry West found catharsis by speaking openly before his death in 'The Logo'

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Jerry West’s legend was so well established when he retired from the Los Angeles Lakers in 1974 that he’d already been the inspiration for the NBA’s logo.Half a century later, West remains seventh all-time in points per game and holds the points-per-game record for a playoff series, numbers even more remarkable because he did it without the three-point shot.But, of course, West wasn’t done.

As a scout and general manager, he was a key architect of the Showtime Lakers teams of the 1980s and later acquired both Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal to build another dynasty.West also was an executive for the Golden State Warriors in their heyday, providing crucial advice on player personnel.Through it all, however, West struggled with depression and a sense of self-loathing, and had trouble with intimacy, much of it a by-product of a hardscrabble childhood in West Virginia with a domineering father.That dichotomy, his outer success and inner turmoil, are the heart of “Jerry West: The Logo,” a new film premiering Thursday for Prime Video, from “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, directing his first documentary.“I’m from L.A.

and was a fan of the Showtime Lakers growing up,” Barris says, so he put his name in for the project figuring he’d at least get to meet a hero.“But we immediately hit it off and I felt a kinship with him.”That ability to connect was part of West’s magic, as attested to by the string of NBA legends who pay tribute to him in the documentary, including Lakers such as Magic Johnson, James Worthy, Pat Riley and O’Neal, along with Steph Curry and Michael Jordan.Vlade Divac was traded by West to secure the rights to Bryant, but he selected West to introduce him at his Hall of Fame induction.

In a recent phone interview, Divac praised West as “a father figure when you needed it and a friend when you needed it.He was very honest and he care...