Baxter Holmes you've done a bunch of deep dives at ESPN and you've been on this

program before with other stories but in this case how did you come to have a

series of conversations with Jerry West?, I knew Jerry probably from back in 2009 when I was with the LA Times as a sports reporter,

and we maintained a relationship over the years.

Certainly Jerry was someone who talked a lot with reporters.

And about 10 years ago, when I joined the ESPN and became a Lakers beat reporter,

even though he had been gone from the Lakers for about a decade and a half by then.

It was still an organization that he cared a lot about and as the years kept on we continued

talking more and more but specifically I would say after the

2017 coup in which they overhauled the front office and really from then on I

would say that Jerry and I started talking more and more.

Why do you think he opened up to you?

That's a good question and I'm not sure I really know the answer to it.

I wish I could ask him.

You know, as you mentioned at the top,

I tend to do deep dives and talk to people

quite a bit on various stories.

I'd like to say that he and I spoke

because I had kind of showed through my work

that I enjoyed writing challenging complex stories

and I think he recognized that. But I think he talked to me in part because he was really interested in the Lakers and you know that was a

subject that I covered as a beat reporter for us initially and then later on was doing kind of deep dives into the organization

...