Basketball lost another great this week following the passing of Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West, who was brilliantly summed up by the late Kobe Bryant in 2016.

West's wife Karen was by his side as he "passed away peacefully" on Wednesday morning at the age of 86. The Hall of Famer was dubbed "Mr Clutch" in his playing days and he'll never be forgotten in the NBA as his silhouette has been used at the center of the logo since 1971.

West was a second overall selection out of Virginia in 1960 and he went on to win Olympic gold in Rome, an NBA Championship in 1972, as well as 14 All-Star selections, playing his entire playing career with the Lakers, who were known as Minneapolis before making the move to Los Angeles. After retirement, West went on to coach the Lakers between 1976-79 and after that, he became an executive at the franchise, who won eight more NBA Championships.

West was responsible for the NBA Drafting of Bryant in 1996 and the pair helped the Lakers win the championship in 2000. Bryant went on to forge a legendary NBA career, adding another four rings to his name. And in 2016 as he retired, Bryant paid tribute to NBA legend West, who put his faith in him two decades prior.

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"He's the man that believed in me from the beginning," Bryant said. "The conversation that I had with him sitting in the Forum locker room and just being in awe of sitting in Magic [Johnson]'s locker and sitting next to Jerry West talking about basketball. That's before anybody knew anything. That was special."

West admitted Bryant was a pain to manage at times, though. "I've always had a fondness for him as a player," West said in 2016. "Sometimes he would disappoint me with some of the things he would say, in particular with regards to players who would not play as hard as him.

"Number one, they couldn't play as hard as him, but number two, they didn't have the skill to play as hard as him. But I think on the balance, this has been a remarkable player, a player for the decades, simply one of the greatest players that ever played the game. And I'm talking about a handful of guys that ever played the game."

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West added: "I think in the NBA he will be one of those players that will be perceived as one of the 10 top players of all time, probably higher because I don't want to demean anyone that's played this game at eye level. I don't.

"But for a franchise to have someone that long, for 20 years, it's pretty amazing. He's left a lot of big footprints there.

"I don't see anyone there now that's going to be able to step into those footprints. I'm hopeful they will find one, one day."