David West has been around a very long time, and he’s been a good-to-great player for pretty much his entire career.
Now in his 15th season, the 37-year-old West has posted a PER above 16 thirteen times. He won his first title as a member of the Warriors last year, but he’s still going strong, putting up a 24.8 PER this season, albeit in relatively limited minutes. The Warriors, after all, aren’t a shallow team, but West is still getting about 12 minutes per game.
Last night, West went for 10 points in 18 minutes, but two of those points were a bit different than the others.
To wit:
And a few replays:
The bench mob absolutely losing their minds is one of the best parts, obviously, including an impromptu group celebration. West is one of the more underrated players we’ve had; he made two All-Star teams, but the second was in 2008-2009; he didn’t make one during the Pacers run as a title contender, even though he was always one of the two best players on those teams.
It should be no surprise that West’s tenure in Golden State is much more than ceremonial; he’s just not wired that way.
That he can still get up like that at 37, though? That probably counts as a surprise.
