David West’s 14-year quest for a championship came to end when the Golden State Warriors blew through last year’s playoffs to win their second NBA Finals title in three years. Now, for the first time in his career, the 37-year-old center has a title to defend and he shared how that feels with Fitz & Brooks on Wednesday afternoon.
“Afterwards, in defense of it you know you’re going to get everybody’s best shot,” West said. “You’re sort of the standard that other teams measure themselves against as the defending champs. That’s really welcomed, I’m enjoying that. Then, obviously there’s no pressure. Once you win it, it’s like you can just play again.”
West began his NBA career as the first-ever draft selection by the newly-founded New Orleans Pelicans in 2003. After the Pelicans, who were called the New Orleans Hornets at the time, reached the playoffs in their first year as a franchise, West helped them them reach the playoffs the following year in his first season in league. The Pelicans lost both playoff runs in the opening round.
West spent eight seasons with the Hornets, where he received his only two All-Star nominations and made three playoff appearances. He then signed a contract in 2013 with the Indiana Pacers, where he played in three consecutive playoffs from 2013-2015, before coming to terms with the San Antonio Spurs, who’d won the NBA Finals two years early, in 2015 for significantly less money.
The Spurs reached the playoffs the one year West was in San Antonio, but his date with the NBA Finals had to wait until his first year with the Golden State Warriors.
“Going after it, there is pressure,” West said. “You feel those tense moments. You maybe feel that little thing in your stomach that’s just, ‘we gotta to get this done.’”
And no one felt the pressure more than the Warriors, who had blown a 3-1 lead in the NBA Finals to the Cleveland Cavaliers after winning a record-breaking 73 wins during the regular season the year before West arrived.
West joined a team that was determined to put the misery of their recent collapse behind them and that’s exactly what the Warriors did. West appeared in all 17 games in Golden State’s 16-1 championship run; averaging 4.5 points, 2.1 assists, 2.7 rebounds, and 13 minutes per game.
Now that West can mark a NBA Finals championship off his checklist, he’s excelled so far this season without the pressure of needing to win another. In 16 games this season, West has upped his defense with 21 blocks, which is tied for 18th most in the league. Offensively, West is shooting 70% from the field and 60% from three-point range.
Needless to say, his success that’s followed him after winning the NBA Finals, along with the Warriors’ epic championship run, are experiences West won’t soon forget.
“Life is about experiences,” West said. “I’ve been to a lot of funerals and very rarely do you hear people talking about things at funerals. It’s about moments. It’s the different emotions that people share and pass to one another while we’re alive.”
To listen to the full interview check out the podcast below, and start from the beginning for West on the difference between pursuing and defending a championship.