‘Basketball still has more to teach me’
David West was supposed to retire from basketball in 1996.
After spending his sophomore season of high school in Teaneck, N.J., anchored to the junior varsity’s bench, the gawky 16-year-old moved with his family to Garner, N.C., a suburb of Raleigh. At 6-foot-5, 135 pounds with size-17 sneakers, West had grown wary of the snickers he elicited just by stumbling up the court. A new school seemingly would allow him to quit without answering questions.
Today, more than two decades after Garner High School coach Eddie Gray convinced him to come out for basketball, West is a two-time NBA All-Star with roughly $90 million in career earnings. In the afterglow of winning his first NBA title in June, he considered finally retiring to focus on his off-the-court interests. One summer day, while watching young kids play at a gymnasium in Raleigh, West realized he wasn’t quite done.
“I saw the children with all their energy, and it was just like, ‘OK, let’s see what one more (season) feels like,’ ” West, 37, recalled after a Warriors practice this week. “Sometimes, talking to some older guys who I depend on for advice, that feeling of being finished kind of creeps in. But it didn’t for me. I felt good.”
In 2003, as a rookie with the New Orleans Hornets (now Pelicans), West began to prepare for retirement. His agent had told him that the average NBA career lasts less than five seasons. In case he would be out of the league by the end of his rookie contract, West made sure to save a sizable percentage of his salary.
It wasn’t until 2009, when he was named an All-Star for the second straight year, that he and his wife, Lesley, bought their first house. West closely monitors his investments. His 2003 Lexus LX 470, which he purchased weeks before his draft night, is still parked at his house in Raleigh.
“I’m trying to keep her alive, man, because I don’t think she can handle the hills out here in Oakland,” West said with a chuckle. “I told my wife, ‘If I brought that car out here, I think last year would’ve killed her.’ ”
When he finished the 201415 season with Indiana, West had achieved the flexibility that only long-term financial security brings. That summer, at age 34, he declined a $12.6 million player option with the Pacers to chase a championship with San Antonio on a veteran-minimum deal of $1.4 million. After his Spurs lost to Oklahoma City in the Western Conference semifinals, West inked a minimum contract with Golden State.
On a team stocked with All-Stars in their prime, West settled in as one of the league’s most valued backup centers. His basketball IQ and pinpoint passes, often levied only with his massive left hand, made him an ideal fulcrum for head coach Steve Kerr’s system. Though West averaged only 4.6 points per game (his lowest since his rookie season), West provided leadership on the block and behind the scenes.
When he spoke in team meetings, teammates knew to listen. This is a player who, when not logging more than 1,000 NBA games, has made a point to educate himself on matters greater than basketball.
West is an expert on African American history and an advisory-board member for Zoetic Global, a renewableenergy company. His charity, the West Group, has raised college scholarships for more than 400 low-income students in North Carolina. Often during long flights last season, Draymond Green asked West to catch him up on current events.
After the Warriors’ titleclinching win over Cleveland, as cheers rang and Champagne corks popped inside the locker room, the stoic man teammates had come to revere gave way to a giddy champion. Out of breath with goggles hanging around his neck, West told TNT’s David Aldridge that “you can’t take it with you. The Egyptians learned that. You can’t bury and take the treasures with you. It’s about the small things in life, the accomplishments. “We set a goal. We worked every single day toward that goal, and nobody can ever take that away from us.”
It was a tailor-made bookend to his NBA career. But over the next week, as he vacationed with his family in Hawaii, West still felt fresh, like he could play another best-of-seven series. The words Green had peppered him with throughout the playoffs — “Come back. One more year.” — were at the front of his mind.
Days later, as he watched kids run the floor at that gym in Raleigh, West thought about the awkward 16-yearold with size-17 sneakers who wanted to quit basketball. Over the past 21 years, the sport has taken him around the world, introduced him to people from different backgrounds and, most important, allowed him to believe in himself.
“Basketball’s always been a way for me to develop who I am,” said West, who re-signed with Golden State in July on another one-year, veteran-minimum deal. “As a kid, I wasn’t that confident. The court has been a place where I could feel confident, then take that feeling into other aspects of my life. I think basketball still has more to teach me.”