Sports
How Jerry West found catharsis by speaking openly before his death in ‘The Logo’
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 documentary for Prime Video, from “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris, directing his first documentary.
Kenya Barris in “Jerry West: The Logo.”
(Prime)
“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 cared about people and helped you achieve your goals. He’s one of the best guys I ever met. Period.”
Barris, who did extensive interviews with West before the Laker icon died in 2024, spoke by video recently about making the documentary, which also includes NBA Commissioner Adam Silver acknowledging for the first time that West was the sport’s logo. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
Jerry had already opened up about his life in his memoir, “West by West,” but do you think this was still cathartic for him?
His book really drew me to doing the documentary because it was so honest. I think the idea of him actually saying these things out loud in front of a camera with his kids and his grandkids around was a catharsis for him.
Did he feel he was nearing the end?
Jerry would say, “I feel like I’m in God’s waiting room.” He didn’t like getting old because he was so much in touch with his body as an athlete — he could jump higher and run farther than his friends. When I first met him, he was on the treadmill and jogging with weights. He was in his 80s but was saying, “I used to be able to jog with more weights.”
He was feeling old but I don’t think that he thought he was about to pass.
Was he annoyed by his depiction in HBO’s Lakers series “Winning Time,” which generated controversy in 2022?
The show was entertaining, but it really bothered him and he didn’t think it was fair. I think that series might’ve pushed him into wanting to do this, if I’m being completely honest.
“Jerry would say, ‘I feel like I’m in God’s waiting room,’” said director Kenya Barris, who conducted extensive interviews with the Lakers legend before his death in 2024.
(Prime)
He and his family talk openly on camera about his mental health issues. Was it hard to balance that tonally with his great accomplishments in basketball?
I did not want to make something that was morose or a melodrama. But it would not be complete if he didn’t talk about the struggles. When I first met him, he was just coming out of a depression and anyone who’s ever been through that understands that it is actually a struggle. So forming a whole picture of who this character was was really important. And also it was important for his family because they lived through this with him as well. They were sad to see him suffer, but they had suffered through it too.
We wanted to really talk about who this character was and what formed him. Most of who we are is formed between the ages of 0 and 12 and in those years, Jerry saw a lot and went through a lot of stuff.
When his older brother was killed in Korea and his father put the casket by the Christmas tree …
That was crazy. If we could get the audience to understand who this man was, it would give them empathy for everything after.
As a GM [general manager], he was a white guy in this predominantly Black sport, but he came in with a chip on his shoulder, too, and he saw these young players who hadn’t had strong father figures and came from socioeconomically deprived places like he did and he was able to build real relationships with them.
He didn’t want to talk about it a lot in the doc, but he did a lot for civil rights and for players’ advocacy of the NBA, for the Black players, who didn’t have the same voice that he had. But he did it quietly.
Jerry West signed Shaquille O’Neal to the Lakers in 1996 after four years with the Orlando Magic. (Andrew D. Bernstein/NBAE via Getty Images)
Jerry West, left, Kobe Bryant and Lakers head coach Del Harris in 1997. Bryant was acquired in a trade for Vlade Divac. (Juan Ocampo/NBAE via Getty Images)
One thing the documentary avoids is the contentious relationship with Phil Jackson — who isn’t even mentioned — and the cause of West’s departure from the Lakers right after he built that dynasty. Did he not want to discuss it?
We spoke about it. You can’t have that long a career and not rack up some controversial things. But I did not want this to be a salacious look at the negative accounts. I got in there the idea of a strain with the Lakers, but I wanted to make sure to not defile that relationship based upon certain things that I wasn’t going to dig into. It was not a gotcha sort of documentary. It was more of a tribute to him.
People have wondered if he had stayed on, whether he could have stopped the relationship between Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal from going south, and I would have been interested to know what he thought.
We did talk about that. He believes that he could have got them to stay together and he said that he believes they could have gone on and won four or five more championships.
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After the World Cup group stage, things go from intense to do-or-die.
In previous years, the Round of 16 was the first knockout stage match, but with an expanded field of 48 teams— it is now the second.
Following the conclusion of the group stage, we now know all 16 Round of 32 matchups. As Brazil- Japan, Netherlands-Morocco and Portugal-Croatia are set to meet in powerhouse showdowns, other nations like Argentina (vs. Cape Verde) and England (vs. DR Congo) have much more favorable draws.
With that, let’s check out the odds for which countries are favored to win at least one knockout stage game and make it to the Round of 16, at FanDuel Sportsbook as of June 28.
This page may contain affiliate links to legal sports betting partners. If you sign up or place a wager, FOX Sports may be compensated. Read more about Sports Betting on FOX Sports.
To Reach Round of 16
Argentina: -1500 (bet $10 to win $10.67 total)
France: -750 (bet $10 to win $11.33 total)
England: -650 (bet $10 to win $11.54 total)
USA: -600 (bet $10 to win $11.67 total)
Spain: -550 (bet $10 to win $11.82 total)
Germany: -500 (bet $10 to win $12 total)
Brazil: -310 (bet $10 to win $13.23 total)
Canada: -300 (bet $10 to win $13.33 total)
Colombia: -250 (bet $10 to win $14 total)
Portugal: -230 (bet $10 to win $14.35 total)
Norway: -210 (bet $10 to win $14.76 total)
Switzerland: -210 (bet $10 to win $14.76 total)
Belgium: -195 (bet $10 to win $15.13 total)
Netherlands: -180 (bet $10 to win $15.56 total)
Mexico: -165 (bet $10 to win $16.06 total)
Egypt: -165 (bet $10 to win $16.06 total)
Australia: +100 (bet $10 to win $20 total)
Ecuador: +125 (bet $10 to win $22.50 total)
Morocco: +130 (bet $10 to win $23 total)
Ivory Coast: +130 (bet $10 to win $23 total)
France currently -750 to make the Round of 16 (Getty Images).
Here’s what to know about this oddsboard.
The Favorites: France and Spain are favored to win the tournament, making them heavy favorites to at least reach the second round of the knockout stage. In 2014, France made it to the quarterfinals, followed by a championship in 2018 and a runner-up finish in 2022. The last time it failed to make it out of the group stage was back in 2010. For Spain, it lost in the Round of 16 in both 2022 and 2018, and failed to make it out of the group stage in 2014, after winning the World Cup in 2010. However, in this betting market, Argentina is the heavily favored to make it to the Round of 16 as sportsbooks believe Cape Verde has an extremely small chance of upsetting the defending champions.
The Host Nations: The USA and Mexico are in great shape to win their Round of 32 matchups after winning their respective groups. Mexico officially won Group A after sweeping its group, while the U.S. clinched Group D after its win over Australia and Türkiye’s loss to Paraguay. And lastly, after its first-ever World Cup win, Canada will advance after finishing second in Group B.
Mexico has a familiar relationship with the Round of 16, having lost in that round every tournament from 1994 to 2018 — seven straight tournaments. In 2022, Mexico didn’t make it out of group play. As for the USA, it made the Round of 16 in 2022, did not qualify for the tournament in 2018, and made the Round of 16 in 2014 and 2010. Canada will play in its first knockout game ever.
Canada will face South Africa on Sunday, Mexico has drawn Ecuador on Tuesday, and the U.S. will play Bosnia and Herzegovina on Wednesday.
SAN DIEGO — One after another, Kyle Tucker and Dalton Rushing broke up their offensive slumps with home runs.
The Dodgers’ sixth-inning rally, en route to a 15-3 victory against the Padres at Petco Park Saturday, featured blasts from the two hitters who needed individual victories at the plate.
Tucker, who entered Saturday with just a .700 OPS, had gone four straight games without a hit. Rushing went hitless in the previous five, in a rough seven-week stretch.
“It’s tough,” Tucker said of his uncharacteristically slow offensive start. “You just have to try and stay positive as much as you can. … We’re going to enjoy the win, but you’ve got another game tomorrow, and you’ve gotta move on to that. Anything that happened yesterday, you’ve got to move on, do your best at that, move on to the next game, and try to improve and try to help your team win.”
Tucker and Rushing’s home runs started the sunflower seed showers in a nine-run inning, which included a home run by Mookie Betts. Four of the runs scored in the sixth were unearned.
The Dodgers’ Dalton Rushing celebrates with Alex Freeland after hitting a home run against the Padres Saturday in San Diego.
(Tony Ding / Ap Photo/tony Ding)
The Dodgers took full advantage of the Padres’ defensive mistakes to jump-start their offense.
In the second inning, Max Muncy hit a line drive into the corner, and Padres right fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. dove after it. But he missed the catch, and the ball bounced behind him. Muncy legged out a triple. And that put him in position to score easily on Tommy Edman’s double to the center-field warning track for the first run of the game.
The Padres evened the score with a Gavin Sheets’ solo home run off Dodgers starter Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who’d go on to limit the Padres to two runs through six innings.
Shaky defense, however, came back to haunt the Padres the next inning.
With Freddie Freeman standing on second base, after a leadoff double against Padres right-hander Randy Vásquez, Muncy hit a sharp grounder to second baseman Will Wagner, who muffed the play. Freeman raced around the bases, scoring on a close play at the plate.
Then Edman, who’s been swinging a hot bat since making his season debut last week, tripled to drive in Muncy.
That’s when Tucker, who went three for five with four RBIs Saturday, stepped up to the plate. He won a nine-pitch battle, sending a cutter over the right-field fence.
“Kind of been looking for it all year,” Tucker said. “I just kind of caught the ball at the right point of contact. I didn’t really stay through it great, but I put a decent enough swing on it, got it to work out.”
Rushing was next, and also went long in a two-strike count.
The Dodgers kept extending the inning, with two walks and three more hits, including Betts’ three-run homer off Padres reliever Ron Marinaccio. It was Betts’ third home run in as many games.
The Padres chipped away at the lead with an RBI single from Sheets off Yamamoto in the sixth and another run against Dodgers reliever Kyle Hurt, who gave up two hits and issued two walks in one-third of an inning.
But the lead the Dodgers compiled in the sixth inning, plus the four runs they tacked on in the eighth with Muncy’s infield single, Edman’s bases-loaded groundout, and Tucker’s opposite-field single, was too steep to overcome.
By the ninth inning, both teams had position players pitching.
Injury update
The Dodgers hope to activate Teoscar Hernández (strained left hamstring) from the 10-day injured list on Monday, manager Dave Roberts said before Saturday’s game.
Hernández homered in all three of his triple-A rehab games, entering Saturday.
“Triple-A pitching is not comparative to big league pitching, I think we all know that,” Roberts said. “But if he’s healthy, he’s an easy guy to bet on.”
Catcher Will Smith, on the other hand, has not returned to baseball activities since receiving an injection to address his neck injury.
“I think we’re all surprised how long it’s taken,” Roberts said. “I hope he’s back before the All-Star break. But the more time he’s off, he’s going to have to play some [rehab] games. So that kind of cuts into the time of return to us. So I don’t really know. I don’t want to add any pressure to him. I want him to be healthy and then once he’s healthy we can have that conversation.”
Sports
Knicks hand Mamdani-backed candidate cease and desist letter for using team’s logo in campaign: report
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A New York Senate candidate who has been backed by New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has reportedly been issued a cease-and-desist letter by the New York Knicks for using the championship team’s logo as part of her campaign.
Promotional stickers read, “I voted for Aber Kawas,” using the Knicks logo, with the team’s name replaced with “Kawas.”
According to the New York Post, the Knicks demanded that the campaign “immediately remove all promotional materials incorporating Knicks Intellectual Property, including but not limited to the unauthorized Advertisements, and cease any further use of Knicks Intellectual Property.”
Aber Kawas, Youth Activities Director for the Arab-American Association of New York, speaks at a rally in Columbus Circle protesting proposals to restrict Muslim arrivals to the United States. (Andy Katz/Corbis)
“Neither the Knicks nor NBA [Properties] have authorized the Campaign to use Knicks Intellectual Property in any way, including the Unauthorized Advertisements, which are likely to mislead the public into believing that the Campaign is affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by, or in some way connected with the Knicks,” Brian N. Warner, senior vice president and head of legal for Madison Square Garden Sports, said in the letter, according to the outlet.
“The Campaign’s activities in this regard constitute, among other things, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false advertising, false association, and unfair competition.”
The Knicks and Mamdani have had beef that began last year when Mamdani’s mayoral campaign also used the Knicks logo in a similar fashion to Kawas. Mamdani was given a cease-and-desist letter, and the Knicks made it clear they were not endorsing anyone in the race, which Mamdani won.
The White House then used the Knicks logo in a post shortly after last year’s election to say, “Trump Is Your President.” The Knicks reached out to the White House, which then removed the post.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani gives New York Knicks player Jalen Brunson the keys to the city during the Knicks’ championship ticker tape parade in New York City on June 18, 2026. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images)
NYC CANCELS KNICKS NBA FINALS WATCH PARTY OVER TRUMP VISIT AS MSG FIRES BACK
Knicks owner James Dolan and Mamdani also had a back-and-forth earlier this month about Knicks watch parties during the team’s championship run. The two came face-to-face at the championship celebration last week at City Hall, when Mamdani name-dropped Knicks legend-turned-Dolan rival Charles Oakley during a reminiscent speech about the Knicks, while Dolan took one final parting shot at the mayor and stiffed him in a photo op.
“I don’t need your vote. I don’t need to quote to you what happened. If you’re real Knick fans you know it already,” Dolan said.
Dolan did announce that the Knicks would go to the White House to visit President Donald Trump, who attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals. The Knicks would be the first NBA team to visit Trump.
Kawas, the Muslim daughter of illegal immigrants, is now the Democrat nominee for New York’s Senate District 12 and is also a socialist. She recently came under fire for rejecting the notion that Muslim Americans need to apologize for 9/11, an attack “a couple of people did.”
Aber Kawas, a Palestinian American community organizer and democratic socialist running for New York State Assembly District 34, and Rep. Claire Valdez attend a demonstration in New York City demanding a rent freeze on rent-stabilized apartments in Long Island City on May 7, 2026. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu)
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“I’ve always been outspoken about the wrongful scapegoating of Muslim Americans, both before and after 9/11, and in this interview I was speaking about the harmful notion that Muslims should have to apologize for an act of violence they have nothing to do with,” Kawas told Fox News Digital Thursday morning.
Fox News’ Peter D’Abrosca contributed to this report.
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