The silhouette of Jerry West has been the NBA’s logo for over five decades. An artist was first commissioned to design it in 1969 and the league has not changed it ever since. It is simple and iconic and has given the NBA one of the most recognizable logos of all of the professional sports leagues.
But Kyrie Irving would prefer to update it. The Brooklyn Nets guard had a particularly close relationship with Kobe Bryant, and on Wednesday, he took to Instagram to argue that the Lakers legend should replace West as the league’s logo.
“Gotta Happen, idc what anyone says,” Irving wrote. “BLACK KINGS BUILT THE LEAGUE.” Irving and Bryant were close up until Kobe’s tragic death in a January 2020 helicopter accident. When Irving’s Cleveland Cavaliers won the 2016 championship, Irving FaceTimed Bryant from the locker room as his teammates celebrated.
Shortly after Irving called for Bryant to be the league’s new logo, Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s wife, responded by sharing Irving’s post to her Instagram story and saying “Love this @kyrieirving.” Vanessa also shared multiple photos of the late Lakers star and daughter, Gianna, following the Irving post.
West himself advocated for a logo change during a 2015 interview with the Huffington Post but pushed for a different player to receive the honor. “I hate to say it’s not a Laker, but Michael Jordan,” West said. “He’s been the greatest player I’ve ever seen. And I’m probably a harsh judge of talent in the sense that I admire players that are really good defensive players and really good offensive players. And I felt that at his time in the game, he was the best defensive player in the game, but more importantly, he was the best offensive player. And he made his teams win.”
The NBA renamed the All-Star Game MVP trophy in Bryant’s honor. After Bryant died in 2020, a petition circulated on change.org to make him the logo and drew over 3.2 million signatures. The league has announced no plans to consider a logo change.
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