There is nothing wrong with the NBA logo. It is timeless, smooth and instantly recognizable.
That it just so happens to be Jerry West’s silhouette is pointless to most people who see it. The logo was designed from a silhouette of Western dribbling, but designer Alan Siegel the image chose not because of who it was – even though West, John Havlicek and Oscar Robertson were his favorite players – but because a certain photo caught him.
“It had a nice taste,” Siegel said in a 2010 interview. “So I took that picture and we tracked it down. It was perfect. It was vertical and had a sense of movement. It was just one of those things that clicked. “
The logo has been the same for nearly half a century, and while there has been occasional talk of changing it – possibly in honor of Michael Jordan – the silhouette of the West has stuck in it. Of course it is always possible to do something better, but changing for the sake of change is not the right choice if a change is not really necessary.
Kyrie Irving now believes the logo should be changed to Kobe Bryant and posted an image to Instagram this week with the caption, “Gotta Happen, idc what anyone says. BLACK KINGS BUILT THE LEAGUE “
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Irving has a point about honoring Black excellence, but Bryant isn’t the answer.
“I know it’s probably been met with some people who love it – who love the idea – and some people who don’t like it,” said Irving on Thursday evening after the Nets have won the Magic. “But my thing is to pay tribute to the example set by that man.”
It has now been over a year since Bryant’s tragic death in a helicopter crash with his daughter Gianna and seven other people. While in the immediate aftermath it was understandable that people wanted to honor the impact he had as a hero on this generation of players and his support women’s basketball, it has never been taken into account that Bryant escaped rape trial only because the alleged victim told prosecutors that she could not proceed with the case after receiving death threats, and he eventually settled a civil suit out of court.
“While I truly believe this meeting between us was a consensus, I now recognize that she did not view this incident in the same way that I did,” Bryant said in a statement in 2004.
There’s a huge difference between honoring the positive impact Bryant had on the NBA and so many in and around the game, and making him the image that will define the league for decades to come. We don’t forget about rape just because we liked someone.
Moving on to Irving’s point here in Black History Month, if you want to talk about “BLACK KINGS BUILT THE LEAGUE”, honor someone who helped build it. Want to dun Chamberlain would be a fantastic choice. Or Bill Russell takes flightOr Walt Frazier hands out a passOr Robertson
There are tons of great choices. But the NBA can take its time because, after all, there’s nothing wrong with the logo as it is. Whatever change they make, if they do at all, they have to make sure it’s an improvement, and if they make Bryant the logo, it wouldn’t be.