‘Jerry West: The Logo’ offers a fascinating look at what made an NBA legend great and complex

There will never be another like Jerry West again.

West was a singular figure in sports history. He was so iconic that his silhouette inspired the NBA’s logo. As great a basketball player as he was, he was an even better basketball executive. He was the first three-time inductee into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame (as a player, Olympian, and contributor).

West passed away in 2024 at the age of 86. Amazon Prime Video’s Jerry West: The Logo serves as the final word on his remarkable career. The two-hour documentary, debuting on April 16, features his last extensive interviews before his death.

Kenya Barris, best known as the creator of the ABC sitcom Black-ish, makes a remarkable documentary debut. He not only gets West to reveal startling details about his life but also secures an All-Star lineup of interviewees, including Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, Pat Riley, and Adam Silver.

We live in a time when it’s harder to find good sports documentaries. West was brutally honest, and this feature is in keeping with his famously direct personality.

In Jerry West: The Logo, he speaks frankly about growing up in a poor, dysfunctional, and abusive household in West Virginia. He recounts an incredibly sad story about his older brother, who was killed in action in the Korean War. The details are heartbreaking. 

As a player, West’s career with the Los Angeles Lakers was marked by statistical brilliance and playoff disappointments. In nine trips to the NBA Finals, he won only once, and most of the losses came to the Boston Celtics. West remains the only player to be named Finals MVP on the losing team (1969).

As an executive, West’s Lakers career was defined by two dynasties: the Magic Johnson-Kareem Abdul-Jabbar champions and the Shaquille O’Neal-Kobe Bryant champions.

Overall, West is credited with eight NBA titles as an executive: six with the Lakers and two with the Steph Curry-led Golden State Warriors.

Barris does an exceptional job of balancing the story of West, the Hall of Famer, with the story of West, the person. Jerry West: The Logo includes West speaking about his mental health, saying, “Some days I don’t function very well.” His widow, Karen, revealed that she sometimes struggled to fully understand his depression. These interviews help provide a complete picture of West. A lesser documentary might have chosen to minimize or omit some of these raw, hard-to-watch moments.

In recent years, a younger generation was reintroduced to West through the HBO series Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty. However, Jason Clarke’s portrayal of West drew heavy criticism from some, including The Logo himself. In Adam McKay’s show, a partially fictionalized account based on true events, West was depicted as an alcoholic jerk. West was so upset that he threatened legal action and demanded a retraction.

If West were alive today, he would likely feel that this documentary would be a sufficient rebuttal to what people saw in Winning Time. Jerry West: The Logo offers a fair look at a basketball genius who was also a tortured soul.