Jerry West, who handed away earlier this 12 months, blames himself for what the Lakers did to his son, Ryan, in 2019.
“I nearly want,” West told ESPN, “that I had by no means performed or labored for them.”
The youthful West noticed his time with the Lakers come to an finish after the Clippers landed Kawhi Leonard after which Paul George).
The opposite LA workforce landed these two stars partly due to Jerry West, who labored for the group for numerous years beginning in 2017.
“The day after Leonard joined the Clippers, the workforce traded for star swingman Paul George, immediately making them title contenders.
“Later that month, on July 27, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Jerry West’s son, Ryan, who had spent 10 years with the Lakers and final labored because the director of participant personnel, was leaving the group.
“Workforce sources made clear Ryan wasn’t leaving on his personal accord. Two sources near the matter mentioned Ryan’s departure was tied to the idea of there being no room for progress inside the franchise, as ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne reported.
“Jerry noticed it in another way.”
The week after his son’s departure, West mentioned,“They let him go due to me,”
Ryan was devastated on the time, having labored there for over a decade.
“He (the elder West) thought of his son, who now works as a professional personnel scout for the Detroit Pistons, to be collateral harm in his conflict with members of Lakers’ management,” Holmes wrote.
“The Lakers declined to remark for this story.
“(The elder) West mentioned he apologized to Ryan, whom he described as ‘devastated.’”
A former longtime Lakers government likened the entire scenario to a television drama.
“It’s like a cleaning soap opera,” The LA exec instructed ESPN. “There’s fallout, which is hurtful. Ryan, to me, it appears like he paid the value for all this pettiness.”
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