But there has been a new attempt to change the Kobe NBA logo, which has become one of the most recognisable in sports. Jerry West died in a terrible helicopter crash in 2020. Since then, more and more people have been calling for the silhouette of West to be replaced with that of Kobe Bryant.
No one has ever said West is the logo, but everyone knows it's him. West has always said, though, that he hates the part. Still, most people need to realise how hard it is to make a difference.
How the NBA's famous logo came to be
Alan Siegel, a brand consultant, made the NBA logo in 1969, and fans have known it for decades. Siegel made the MLB logo a year before he made the NBA logo, and he used parts of that design to make the NBA logo. In his search for a good figure, he found a picture of Jerry West in action. From then on, West would be the logo's model. The league's commissioner at the time, Walter Kennedy, thought it was great, but he didn't know it was based on West, and West was never asked for permission to use his likeness.
Siegel never tried to hide that he got his ideas from the West, but when the league found out, they were not happy. Siegel told The Undefeated in 2017 about meeting with David Stern long after he made the logo. Even though it was West, Stern didn't believe it. Siegel thought that the NBA hid the fact that the logo was based on a player because they were embarrassed or afraid that West would want money if he found out. This, however, was different.
Being the logo has caused West a lot of trouble.
Having your face on the NBA logo would be the highest honour for a professional athlete, but West has never been sure how he feels about the idea. Jonathan Coleman, who wrote West's biography, said West had stopped being proud of the logo when it became linked to his basketball career. When most people thought that he, not the company's logo, was what the company was all about, it made the executive angry. People began calling West "The Logo" after they met him. It became his nickname almost right away, which he didn't like.
It makes sense. The NBA wants to save time and money by changing the logo to make West happy. After the terrible thing happened, people forgot about changing the logo.
The effort to make Kobe Bryant the team's mascot.
After Bryant died too soon in January 2020, people came up with ideas for how the NBA could honour its best player. A small group of Twitter users first suggested making Bryant the logo. The idea was talked about for a while but failed to catch on. Kyrie Irving put a photo on Instagram, which brought up the idea of using a picture of her late husband in the logo again.
