The topic of the NBA potentially changing its logo has come back into focus this week thanks to Kyrie Irving, but it remains unlikely that we are going to see a new logo at any point in the near future. Why? Money, of course.
The current NBA logo was designed in 1969 and features the silhouette of Los Angeles Lakers Legend and Hall of Famer Jerry West. While it is well known that West is the player depicted in the logo, the NBA has been reluctant to acknowledge that. When asked about the logo several years ago, former NBA commissioner David Stern said through a spokesman that he did not know if the silhouette is West’s.
“There’s no record of it here,” NBA spokesman Tim Frank said.
Everyone knows the logo depicts West, but there is no licensing agreement between West and the NBA. As Jason Concepcion of Crooked Media pointed out, that is probably the main reason the NBA is not going to change the logo.
one reason the nba will never change the logo is they've been using an unlicensed likeness of jerry west for 50 years and if they went with a new player, that player's reps would ask for royalties https://t.co/JhXnLUSfUd
— jason c. (@netw3rk) February 25, 2021
If the NBA were to listen to Irving and honor someone like Kobe Bryant by using his likeness for the logo, that would require a licensing agreement. That would likely mean the NBA would have to share profits with Bryant’s family, and the league does not do that now with West.
West made some surprising remarks about the NBA logo a few years back, but we wouldn’t anticipate any change.
