Column: Lakers great Jerry West is helping create a Warriors dynasty, and that hurts

The horrified reaction from Southland basketball fans to Monday’s announcement that Kevin Durant was joining the Golden State Warriors was not about his destination, but his transportation.

He was supposedly talked into it by Jerry West? Are you kidding me?

The greatest basketball mind in Lakers history just pulled a historic free-agent coup for the Bay Area’s team on a weekend when the Lakers were settling for free agency’s scraps?

The architect of two different Lakers dynasties — he has seven Lakers championship rings, including one as a player — is creating another one with a rival team in the most rival of cities at a time when the Lakers franchise is coming off its two worst seasons ever?

This hurts. This really hurts.

West, 78, hasn’t been an official member of the Lakers for 16 years, not since that somber August day in 2000 when he announced his retirement, walking away from the beginning of the Shaq-Kobe era that he created.

It turns out, if course, that he retired only from the Buss family, not from basketball. Since then he created a solid foundation for the Memphis Grizzlies as their general manager, and then for the last five years has served as a member of the Warriors’ executive board, advising on their 2015 NBA championship and ensuing historic 73-win season.

None of those accomplishments slapped at his old home like his latest feat, though, a reported phone conversation that convinced one of basketball’s three best players to walk away from his professional home and jump on the bandwagon of what is now arguably the best NBA lineup in history.

This is the same Kevin Durant who wouldn’t even accept a phone call from the Lakers.

Yeah, this really hurts.

There will be a lot of opinions from many different directions on this monumental decision. The thought here is that Durant sadly sacrificed legacy for bling. He was only five wins from leading Oklahoma City to its first major professional sports championship this year, but instead of sticking around to finish the job, he fled to place where those five wins would come easier. He will still be a star player, but for now he has given up on that rare opportunity to be a franchise player, a landscape-changing player, and that’s too bad.

For Southern Californians, however, all these opinions mean far less than a sorely resurrected question that has nothing to do with either Durant or, really, even the Warriors.

Why isn’t Jerry West still hanging around making those calls for the Lakers?

The answer is complicated by revised history and muddled memories but, as one who was hanging around the Lakers during that time, your faithful correspondent can attest to a couple of truths.

During an interview about his retirement in August 2000, West said, “I need to get off this merry-go-round for a while.’’

He was not talking only about the pressures of winning a championship. He was also talking about the carnival ride that was the Lakers front office. At the time, three things were happening that were becoming increasingly distracting to West’s legendary focus.

First, Phil Jackson had just finished his first year as Lakers head coach and was slowly asserting more influence in personnel decisions. Second, Jackson and Lakers executive Jeanie Buss were beginning a personal relationship that could have changed the front-office dynamic. Third, inexperienced Jim Buss was slowly being introduced into a position of authority.

None of these factors were the reason West “retired.’’ He was always stronger than any perceived roadblock to his genius. He quit mostly because he was truly burned out, so much so that he spent one of the Lakers playoff games that spring in his car, driving the 101 Freeway and listening on the radio.

But all of those factors combined to make the Lakers front office a place that, instead of providing the mercurial West with needed stability, simply added more stress.

Who was really running the team, him or Jackson? Was disagreeing with Jackson now tantamount to disagreeing with ownership? And who in the heck was Jim Buss?

In hindsight, of course, Jackson proved his worth with five titles here, his relationship with Jeanie Buss has never factored in any major Lakers decision, and only the emergence of Jim Buss has since proved problematic.

But at the time, all of it was so uncertain, it would have been nice if the great Jerry Buss would have simply handed West the keys to the building and allowed him to do what he wanted, however he wanted, for as long as he wanted, with no questions asked.

That didn’t happen. And so West left, and 16 years later he just helped the Golden State Warriors acquire Durant while Jim Buss’ 17-win Lakers were acquiring Timofey Mozgov and Luol Deng and … oh, my.

“Obviously, Jerry West is irreplaceable,’’ said Jerry Buss when West left the Lakers. “What he’s meant to the Laker franchise over the past 40 years is immeasurable.’’

He’s still irreplaceable. Only now, his worth to the Lakers can be be measured as clearly as the different shade of gold that will now adorn Kevin Durant’s back. Goodness, it hurts.

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Twitter: @billplaschke

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