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When you think about iconic NBA players of the 1960s and 1970s, a few players come to mind – the great Russell vs. Chamberlain rivalry (and the great Celtics teams and players in general), Oscar Robertson and his triple-double season, Jerry West gracing the NBA logo with his silhouette, just to name a few. Much like Larry Bird and Magic Johnson in the 1980s, the careers of Oscar Robertson and Jerry West were closely intertwined and highlighted by many of the same contrasts between the two players, e.g. black vs. white, East vs. West, etc. Today, both are remembered as among the all-time greats, with West’s silhouette gracing the NBA’s logo, but it is impossible not to compare the two players and ask:
Who was better – Oscar Robertson or Jerry West?
The Beginning
Both Robertson and West were standout high school basketball players (in fact, both were named the best player in their respective home states) before going on to dominate the college ranks; drafted 1-2 in 1960, the duo would also quickly make their marks in the NBA.
Robertson had a storied high school career (fun fact: his team lost in the 1954 basketball state semifinals in Indiana to eventual champions Milan, who were the basis for the classic 1986 movie Hoosiers), which culminated in him being named Indiana Mr. Basketball in 1956. From there, he played his college ball at the University of Cincinnati, where in his three seasons with the Bearcats, he won the scoring title each year, was named a 3x All-American and 3x College Player of the Year (the Player of the Year award is now called the Oscar Robertson Trophy), made the Final Four twice, compiled 10 triple-doubles (a staple of his pro career), and set 14 NCAA and 19 school records. In the 1960 NBA Draft, Robertson was drafted first overall (territorial pick) by the Cincinnati Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) and dominated from the get-go, averaging 30.5 points (47.3% shooting), 10.1 rebounds, and a league-high 9.7 assists per game as a rookie; as a result, he was Rookie of the Year, made the first of his 12 consecutive All-Star Game appearances, and earned the first of nine straight First Team All-NBA selections.
At the same time, West was likewise a standout high school player, winning West Virginia Player of the Year honors and leading his high school team to a state championship. Choosing to stay local, he played college basketball at West Virginia University, where he was a 2x First Team All-American, 2x Southern Conference Player of the Year, and NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player in 1959 as the Mountaineers narrowly lost to Cal in the finals by a 71-70 score. Entering the same 1960 NBA Draft as Robertson, West was selected right after Robertson with the second overall pick by the Minneapolis Lakers, who soon relocated to California and became the Los Angeles Lakers. As a rookie, West would make the first of 14 straight All-Star teams by averaging 17.6 points (41.9% shooting), 7.7 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game.
Career Comparison
For both Robertson and West, their stellar rookie campaigns were just a sign of things to come – over the next decade and a half, both players would continue to dominate the NBA as individual players, though it would take a bit longer for each one to overcome the Boston Celtics dynasty and win an NBA title.
In just his second NBA season in 1961-1962, Robertson put up 41 triple-doubles and became the first player to average a triple-double over a full season with 30.8 points (on 47.8% shooting), 12.5 rebounds, and 11.4 assists; for over 50 years, the Big O remained the only NBA player to achieve the feat until Russell Westbrook did so in 2016-2017 (and has now done so for three straight seasons thru the 2018-2019 season). In addition, Robertson broke Bob Cousy’s single-season assist record in one of six seasons leading the NBA in assists.
As an encore to his historic season, Robertson remained a nightly triple-double threat, shooting a career-best 51.8% in 1962-1963 and putting up 28.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 9.5 assists per game to narrowly miss out on another triple-double season. With continued individual excellence and improved team play, he earned MVP honors in 1963-1964 on the strength of a career-high 31.4 points (48.3% shooting), 9.9 rebounds, and 11.0 assists per game, once again nearly averaging a triple-double for the season; in fact, over his first five seasons, Robertson averaged a triple-double (30.3 points, 10.4 rebounds, and 10.6 assists per game). This also marked the first of three straight seasons leading the NBA in assists, with Robertson putting up at least 11.0 assists per game each year, including a career-high 11.5 in 1964-1965. Robertson’s last 30+ points per game season came in 1966-1967, though interestingly, he would win his lone scoring title the next season at 29.2 points per game (50.0% shooting), while also leading the league in assists at 9.7 per game. Overall, his time with the Royals was dominant – over a decade with the team, he averaged at least 24 points, 6 rebounds, and 8 assists per game on 47.0% shooting, and was an All-Star plus a First Team or Second Team All-NBA selection each year.
Before the 1970-1971, Robertson was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks for Flynn Robinson and Charlie Paulk, where he teamed up with center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to form a potent duo. His first season in Milwaukee was his best, as he averaged 19.4 points (49.6% shooting), 5.7 rebounds, and 8.2 assists per game for Second Team All-NBA honors. Over time, Robertson became more of a complementary player to Abdul-Jabbar, though was still effective in his own right, and made his last All-Star Game in 1971-1972 before retiring after the 1973-1974 season at age 35. Additionally, as President of the Player’s Association, he was involved in the landmark Robertson vs. National Basketball Association antitrust suit that led to reforms for the college draft and free agency rules, and also finally allowed the completion of the ABA-NBA merger to take place in 1976 (the suit was filed in 1970).
Meanwhile, as Robertson was dominating night in and night out in Cincinnati, West exploded in his second NBA season, averaging 30.8 points (on 44.5% shooting), a career-high 7.9 rebounds, and 5.4 assists per game in 1961-1962, which resulted in the first of 10 First Team All-NBA selections. For the rest of his illustrious career, West would average at least 20 points per game each year, including 25+ points per game for the next decade with four seasons above 30 points per game. The next season, though he averaged 27.1 points per game, he only played in 55 games; injuries and missed games were a prevalent theme throughout West’s career, as he would play in fewer than 70 regular season games in half of his 14 NBA seasons.
From an individual scoring perspective, West’s peak came in the mid-1960s, as he averaged back-to-back seasons of 30+ points per game in 1964-1965 and 1965-1966:
- 1964-1965: 31.0 points (49.7% shooting), 6.0 rebounds, and 4.9 assists per game
- 1965-1966: a career-high 31.3 points (47.3% shooting), 7.1 rebounds, and 6.1 assists per game
Though his scoring average would decline in three consecutive seasons thereafter, West did shoot a career-best 51.4% in 1967-1968 to the tune of 26.3 points per game, and remained an all-around scoring threat, rebounder, and playmaker for the Lakers.
During the 1969-1970 season, he would win his only scoring title by averaging 31.2 points on 49.7% shooting to go with 4.6 rebounds and 7.5 assists per game; moreover, after two seasons as a Second Team All-NBA selection, West returned to First Team status and also garnered the first of four consecutive All-Defensive First Team nods. At the same time, the early 1970s also saw West post his highest career assist numbers, which culminated in him leading the NBA in assists in 1971-1972 at 9.7 assists per game to go along with 25.8 points (47.7% shooting) and 4.2 rebounds per game. In his final NBA season in 1973-1974, West was still a highly productive player (20.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game), but injuries limited him to only 31 games played and at the conclusion of the season, he would retire from the NBA at age 35.
Overall, both Robertson and West played 14 NBA seasons from 1960-1974, with Robertson having a 100+ games played advantage due to better health. During that time, West was the better scorer (27.0 to 25.7), but Robertson grabbed more rebounds (7.5 to 5.8) and averaged more assists (9.5 to 6.7) and also had slightly better shooting percentages. Additionally, Robertson also remains #1 all-time in career triple-doubles with 181; the only other players in NBA history with more than 100 career triple-doubles are Russell Westbrook (138, as of the end of the 2018-2019 season), Magic Johnson (138), and Jason Kidd (107). On the flipside, West was selected more frequently for All-Star (14x to 12x), All-NBA (12x to 11x), and All-Defensive (5x to none) Teams, though Robertson does have the one MVP to his name. From the perspective of advanced metrics, Robertson also holds the edge in both Player Efficiency Rating (PER) and Wins-Shares. Perhaps fittingly, the two players also went into the Hall of Fame together in 1980, and West’s silhouette continues to grace the NBA logo today.
Regular Season Statistics
| Oscar Robertson | Player | Jerry West |
| 14 (1960-1974) | Seasons | 14 (1960-1974) |
| 1,040 | Games Played | 932 |
| 25.7 | Points | 27.0 |
| 7.5 | Rebounds | 5.8 |
| 9.5 | Assists | 6.7 |
| 48.5% | Field Goal % | 47.4% |
| 83.8% | Free Throw % | 81.4% |
| 23.2 | PER | 22.9 |
| 189.2 | Win Shares | 162.6 |
| 12x | All-Star Games | 14x |
| 11x | All-NBA | 12x |
| 1x | MVP | – |
| 1x | NBA Titles | 1x |
| – | NBA Finals MVP | 1x |
| ROY | Other Awards | 5x All-Defensive |
| 1980 | Hall of Fame Induction | 1980 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
In addition to their regular season performances, Robertson and West were both consistent presences in the postseason and led their teams admirably for a number of years. However, due to the dynastic dominance of the Boston Celtics, who won 10 NBA titles between 1959 and 1969, including eight straight from 1959 to 1966, both players would fall short of a ring time after time again until finally reaching the NBA pinnacle in the early 1970s.
Overall, Robertson visited the postseason 10 times in his career (six times in his decade with Cincinnati, and all four years in Milwaukee), where he lead the NBA in playoff assists 7x, including four straight years from 1962 to 1965; other individual postseason accomplishments included averaging a triple-double for the 1962 playoffs and leading the playoffs in minutes played for three straight years (including an astounding 48.8 minutes per game in 1964-1965). His best opportunity for a title with the Royals came in 1962-1963, when they advanced to the Eastern Division Finals, but lost to the eventual champion Boston Celtics in seven games despite the Big O’s 31.8 points, 13.0 rebounds, and 9.0 assists per game in the postseason. Following another five-game loss to Boston in 1963-1964, Cincinnati would never again make it past the first round with Robertson. As a member of the Bucks in 1970-1971, Robertson finally broke through as Milwaukee swept the Baltimore Bullets in the NBA Finals for his only NBA title; Robertson led the playoffs in assists that season (8.9 assists per game) to go along with 18.3 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Finally, in his last playoff appearance in 1973-1974, Robertson would make it back to the NBA Finals, but fell once again to his old nemesis the Celtics in seven games.
Similarly, West was a postseason participant in 13 of his 14 NBA seasons (he injured his knee in 1971 and missed the playoffs that year), which included a remarkable nine NBA Finals appearances. Despite West’s playoff heroics, which included leading the postseason in scoring average 4x (highlighted by a career-best 40.6 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per game in the 1965 playoffs), the 1960s saw six Finals losses to the rival Celtics (1962, 1963, 1965, 1966, 1968, and 1969). In particular, in a Finals loss to Boston in 1969 that went the distance, West put up 42 points, 13 rebounds, and 12 assists in the decisive Game 7, and was named the inaugural Finals MVP despite being on the losing team, the only time in NBA history this has happened. Following another Finals loss in 1970, this time to the New York Knicks, the Lakers finally broke through in 1972 and beat the Knicks in five games for the only NBA title of West’s career; ironically, it was one of the worst individual postseasons of his career, as he averaged “only” 22.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, and a league-best 8.9 assists per game.
During their overlapping careers, Robertson and West faced off head-to-head on 94 occasions. Of the 87 regular season matchups, West holds a 50-37 lead, though Robertson outscored his counterpart by 28.5 to 27.7 points per game. Moreover, the duo had two playoff matchups – first, in the 1972 Western Conference Finals, the Lakers beat the Bucks 4-2 behind West’s 21.8 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 8.3 assists per game; Robertson was very much a complementary player at that point, only averaging 9.0 points, 5.3 rebounds, and 5.7 assists per game during the six-game series. Additionally, in the 1974 Western Conference Semifinals, the Bucks would get revenge and defeat the Lakers 4-1, though West only played one game in the series.
On the international stage, before jumping to the NBA, Robertson and West were co-captains of the US Basketball Team at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome (professionals would not be allowed to play until the Dream Team in 1992); considered by many pundits to be the best collection of amateur basketball talent in history (in addition to Robertson and West, Jerry Lucas and Walt Bellamy would also become Hall of Famers), the team easily won the gold medal at the Games and was collectively elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2010.
Playoff Statistics
| Oscar Robertson | Player | Jerry West |
| 86 | Games Played | 153 |
| 22.2 | Points | 29.1 |
| 6.7 | Rebounds | 5.6 |
| 8.9 | Assists | 6.3 |
| 46.0% | Field Goal % | 46.9% |
| 85.5% | Free Throw % | 80.5% |
| 21.0 | PER | 23.1 |
| 13.6 | Win Shares | 26.7 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Every athlete goes through a natural career lifecycle, from starting off as a rookie to reaching peak years of performance and finally, declining into the inevitable retirement due to a combination of age and/or injury; from Robertson’s complementary role on the Bucks to West’s proneness to injury, both players were eventually affected by these factors. For Hall of Fame caliber players across sports, I like to look at a concept I call a “decade of dominance.” The thinking behind this is that for most Hall of Fame type careers, there are roughly 10 great seasons that define an athlete (this idea is embodied in a sense by the NFL’s All-Decade teams), though due to injury or other factors, they might not be 10 consecutive years.
Decade of Dominance
| Oscar Robertson | Player | Jerry West |
| 1960-1970 | Decade of Dominance | 1961-1967, 1968-1972 |
| 752 | Games Played | 702 |
| 29.3 | Points | 28.9 |
| 8.5 | Rebounds | 5.8 |
| 10.3 | Assists | 6.8 |
| 48.9% | Field Goal % | 47.6% |
| 83.7% | Free Throw % | 82.4% |
| 24.9 | PER | 23.5 |
| 154.1 | Win Shares | 132.6 |
Source: Basketball-Reference.com
Across their respective decades of dominance, Robertson holds the edge in essentially every category, from health (games played) to counting statistics to shooting ratios to advanced metrics; this is of course no knock on West (whose best-decade numbers are still scintillating), but speaks to how truly dominant the Big O was at his peak.
My Thoughts
While it has been nearly 50 years since either Oscar Robertson or Jerry West last set foot on an NBA basketball court and not too many of us actually got to see them play live, the duo remain two of the most iconic players in NBA history. In some ways, the decision of who was better comes down to personal preferences on playing style – do you prefer Robertson with his penchant for racking up triple-doubles or West with his silky smooth moves and shooting? Personally, I value all-around players who can do everything on the court – shoot, rebound, pass – and as such, though West was probably a better scorer and defender, I prefer Robertson with his historically dynamic all-around game and ability to dominate in all aspects. Moreover, half the battle is actually being on the court and so Robertson’s better durability also gives him another slight edge in this close head-to-head matchup.
Thus, after weighing their careers against each other in terms of statistics, achievements, and impact, the winner of this faceoff is:
Oscar Robertson
As always, vote for your choice and leave your thoughts and comments below.
Further Reading
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