Photo by Jake Roth - USA TODAY Sports
Jerry West has officially left the Golden State Warriors after six fruitful seasons as a weighty voice in a front office that overflows with intelligence, experience, and success.The 79-year-old NBA icon's next stop is downstate to the Los Angeles Clippers, an organization that could, in an alternate universe, sit where the Warriors currently do, if only they had different ownership and wiser management over the past half-decade. Instead, they occupy a more humble position in the league, inspiring more questions of "what if" than expressions of awe.For an enduring basketball mind like West, who is always in search of a challenge, the Clippers are a perfect fit (not to mention convenient, seeing as he lives in Los Angeles).And what a challenge it is! We don't yet know how much sway West will have over a front office that already boasts Doc Rivers, Lawrence Frank, and general manager Dave Wohl. He won't have final say over any personnel decisions and doesn't even have an official title yet. But having been up close and personal with the game's most dominant team, West knows as well as anyone that bringing the band back for another round in L.A. is most likely a futile strategy.If Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, who are both expected to opt out of their player options, re-sign this summer, West might be able to convince semi-attractive free agents to accept reduced pay and a smaller role than they'd find elsewhere to try and topple the Western Conference's very best. Think someone like P.J. Tucker at the taxpayer mid-level exception—but even that is a serious long shot.West isn't stupid. The Clippers struggled to keep up with the Warriors before Golden State signed Durant, and most of the meaningful contributors on last year's team, including Paul, Jamal Crawford, J.J. Redick, and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, won't be as good in 2018. Roll everything back and the Clippers are also essentially on autopilot for the near future, with limited resources and having locked in a core that isn't good enough. If that happens, West's opinions and gravitas might as well have stayed in Oakland.But what if the Clippers are forced to head in the opposite direction? What if Griffin signs with the Miami Heat or the Boston Celtics, and both Redick and Mbah a Moute flee to the highest bidders?If Paul stays put and the Clippers decide to move on from DeAndre Jordan, L.A. can put itself in a fantastic spot next summer to court free agents like LeBron James and Paul George. With West, Rivers, Paul, and the city of L.A. as selling points in every pitch meeting, it won't be easy to pass on the Clippers. (This also applies for someone like Avery Bradley, who has a previous relationship with Rivers and matches up exceptionally well against Golden State.)Even though a reasonable path exists for the Clippers to punt this season and go all in on what could very well be the summer that puts them over the top, so much can and will happen over the next 12 months. But wild ideas like these become a bit more realistic now that West is involved. He's a titan in this industry, and most recently facilitated Golden State's rise by pushing for the team to trade Monta Ellis, draft Klay Thompson, and not deal Thompson for Kevin Love back when those talks were hot.Now that Golden State has reached its final form, West's influence is less essential in the Bay Area, so long as ownership keeps signing checks. Steph Curry is up for a five-year super max contract that'll keep him in the Bay Area through his prime. Kevin Durant just won his first title and a Finals MVP, and isn't far behind with his own four-year pact.Thompson and Draymond Green are under contract through 2019 and 2020, respectively, and all four All-NBA-caliber players have still yet to celebrate their 30th birthday. (Curry will get there in March, but Durant doesn't turn 29 until September, while Thompson and Green are both still 27.)It's a meaningful day for a Clippers organization that badly needs some good luck on their side.
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