Jerry West: Warriors fans 'much better than L.A. fans'

When Los Angeles Lakers legend Jerry West speaks, the basketball world listens.

After all, he is "The Logo."

So, when West dished on the differences between the fan bases for the Lakers - a team he played on and later worked for as general manager - and the reigning NBA champion Golden State Warriors during his recent appearance on "The Jim Rome Show," his opinion resonated beyond the boundaries of the Bay Area.

"Oh, much better than L.A. fans, OK?" he said, referring to the famously loyal and infamously raucous Warriors fans. "They don't ever leave the game."

The 14-time All-Star lamented the transformation of the Lakers fan base once the team transitioned from The Forum to the Staples Center in 1999.

"Once we moved into Staples Center, our fan base changed, I thought," West said. "It's a completely different kind of fan than Los Angeles. Los Angeles has a lot of corporate fans there, whole different people sat in different seats. You can go up to Oracle right now and you'll see the same fans in the same seats every night. The fans in Los Angeles are great, but I've never seen fans like this here."

It will be interesting to see how the notoriously stubborn Lakers Nation reacts to West - who won an NBA title in purple and gold in 1972 - and his potentially divisive stance.