The history of the NBA logo

The NBA is probably the most popular sports league in the world and an organization with a rich history of inspiring stories of success. Since 1969, the organization has been represented by the image of a basketball player set on a red and blue background.

That image has become iconic and there is probably no sports fan who is not familiar with it, but not everyone knows that the league had three previous logos.

The logo introduced by NBS in 1950 was composed of a circular emblem, where the whole basketball was depicted. The red lettering was placed on its upper and middle parts, leaving the bottom one free. The upper parts comprised the datemark in bold lines, while the main wordmark was in the middle segment of the ball, with “National” and “Association” arched along with the stitches, and “Basketball” in a straight line.

The redesign of 1953 made the basketball red, and the lettering white. The ball was placed slightly diagonal, and the inscription was now composed of just three letters, “NBA”, written along the bottom line of the emblem.

With the redesign of 1962, the ball becomes white again, but the stitches and letters gained a new color, black. The “NBA” wordmark in all capital was placed diagonally, from the upper left corner to the bottom right one, inside the middle segment of the basketball.

The iconic logo of the NBA dates back to 1969.

The American Basketball Association or ABA was founded in 1967 becoming a rival league to the NBA. The NBA governing body was troubled by this new rival and decided to create a new logo that would take the league to another level.

West has had a complicated relationship with being the logo.

The league hired a top professional in the field of design and branding named Alan Siegel who has created the Major League Baseball logo two years prior. Alan knew that he was bound to create something as effective as the baseball league logo. And so, he looked through hundreds or perhaps thousands of basketball photos, and finally found a photo of Jerry West.

The photo was perfect for a new NBA logo. A vertical, dynamic, and tall silhouette of the “Lakers” player fitted the new logo perfectly.

Siegel never hid his inspiration, but the league wasn’t happy with the idea that everyone learned it was West. In a 2017 interview, Siegel explained how he met with David Stern years after creating the logo. Stern wouldn’t acknowledge it was West.

“They want to institutionalize it rather than individualize it. It’s become such a ubiquitous, classic symbol and focal point of their identity and the licensing program that they don’t necessarily want to identify it with one player,” said Siegel.

West himself had a complicated relationship with being the logo. One would think that being a player who would eventually become the NBA logo would be the highest honor a player could have but West thought that the logo took over his basketball legacy. People meeting West would refer to him as “The Logo.” It quickly became his nickname, and he hated it.

The push to make Kobe Bryant the logo.

Not many fans knew that the logo has been redesigned in 2017. The redesign changed only the style of the lettering on the logo, keeping all other elements unchanged. The inscription of the current badge version featured thinner lines and narrowed shapes of the letters, with clean contours and distinct cuts.

In the last years, the rumors of a more dramatic change of the logo are creating a lot of hype. Many think that the Micheal Jordan “Jumpman” should be the new logo, or maybe the late Kobe Bryant deserves to be on it.

Anyway, the classic image that has been the face of the league for more than 50 years, still generates $3 billion a year in licensing, and while it still “works” any further changes are very unlikely.