Golden Days: West's Lakers, Steph's Warriors, and the California Dreamers Who Reinvented Basketball - Softcover

"[Jack] McCallum holds legitimate claim for being the greatest NBA writer of all time--he wrote for Sports Illustrated for several decades, and his Dream Team is a chronicle of the souls of every basketball player you've ever cared about--and this book, typically, is full of juicy anecdotes and wagging fun. . . . The Warriors is a team of big ideas, big achievements and big personalities."--The Wall Street Journal

"[Jack McCallum is] a great chronicler of the NBA game. . . . The 1971-72 season was an odd one . . . and even more odd is how little has actually been written about that team, compared with some of the other historically great NBA single-season squads. . . . McCallum is great this way, unearthing gems, such as [Jerry] West's intense dislike for the late Lakers owner Jack Kent Cooke . . . and the behind-the-scenes management role played by the team's legendary play-by-play radio man, Chick Hearn. . . . Nearing eighty, West still has something to give a team desperate to win on the biggest stage. McCallum shows why that is."--David Aldridge

"With his classic eye for detail and deadpan wit, Jack McCallum connects two of the greatest teams in sports history through the endlessly fascinating persona of Jerry West. McCallum manages to unearth new details about some of the giants of the game, while shining a light on overlooked figures such as Elgin Baylor, delivering an original, fascinating, and breezy read."--Zach Lowe, senior writer, ESPN

"I spent some of the 2016-17 season working as a consultant for the Golden State Warriors, but even I didn't know every detail of how this championship team came together. Golden Days breaks that all down and shows how the Warriors have revolutionized basketball."--Steve Nash, two-time MVP

"I had the pleasure of playing with, coaching with, and coaching for Jerry West, one of the great influences in the history of the NBA. Jack McCallum's Golden Days gets at the essence of the man as a player and an executive, while also exploring today's game through the Golden State Warriors."--Pat Riley, president, Miami Heat

"Only one writer I know could pull all this together: two iconic champions, two roundball revolutions, and the deadeye legend whose silhouette binds them both. If basketball writing had a logo, it would be the image of Jack McCallum."--Lee Jenkins, senior writer, Sports Illustrated

The bestselling author of Dream Team tells the interconnected stories of the NBA champion Golden State Warriors and the early-1970s Los Angeles Lakers, two extraordinary teams playing in extraordinary times and linked by one extraordinary man: Jerry West.

With an update on Jerry West’s new gig

In Golden Days, acclaimed sports journalist Jack McCallum uses two teams—today’s Golden State Warriors and the L.A. Lakers of the early 1970s—to trace the dynamic history of the National Basketball Association, which for much of the last half-century has marched memorably through the state of California. Tying together the two strands of McCallum’s story is Hall of Famer Jerry West, the ferociously competitive Laker guard who later became one of the key architects of the Warriors. With “the Logo” as his guide, McCallum takes us deep into the locker rooms and front offices of these two era-defining teams, leveraging the access and authority he has amassed over his forty-year career to create a picture of the cultural juggernaut that the NBA has become.
 
Featuring up-close-and-personal portraits of some of the biggest names in basketball history, from Wilt Chamberlain to Steve Kerr to the transcendent duo of Stephen Curry and Kevin Durant, as well as an update on the Warriors’ continuing run of dominance and West’s first season with the L.A. Clippers, Golden Days is a history, not just of a changing sport, but a changing America.

Featuring vintage photos and contemporary shots of NBA greats including Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Wilt Chamberlain, Jerry West, Elgin Baylor, Pat Riley, and more.

“Full of juicy anecdotes and wagging fun . . . McCallum holds legitimate claim for being the greatest NBA writer of all time.”—The Wall Street Journal

“Only one writer I know could pull all this together: two iconic champions, two roundball revolutions, and the deadeye legend whose silhouette binds them both. If basketball writing had a logo, it would be the image of Jack McCallum.”—Lee Jenkins, senior writer, Sports Illustrated

“I had the pleasure of playing with, coaching with, and coaching for Jerry West, one of the great influences in the history of the NBA. Golden Days gets at the essence of the man as a player and an executive, while also exploring today’s game through the Golden State Warriors.”—Pat Riley, president, Miami Heat

“An original, fascinating, and breezy read.”—Zach Lowe, senior writer, ESPN