The NBA is reportedly against changing their iconic logo to honour Kobe Bryant following the death of the LA Lakers legend. Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna were killed in a helicopter crash on Sunday and tributes have flooded in.
However, basketball fans are demanding that the NBA change their logo by proposing Bryant’s silhouette. A petition which was started on Change.org was close to reaching three million signatures in the early hours of Thursday morning. The NBA logo has used Jerry West’s silhouette since 1969. But according to Yahoo Sports, the NBA are against focusing their logo on one player. The report claims that sources close to the NBA say, ‘there is no interest in having an individual player as its logo because there are so many who have been instrumental in the growth of the game and the NBA. Generic is better.’.
For over 50 years, Jerry West has provided the silhouette for the iconic the NBA logo which was designed in 1969. West, who is an LA Lakers legend having both played for and coached the team, claimed that he wanted the logo to be changed. ‘First of all, I wish that had never gotten out, that logo. No I do, really,’ he said in 2017. ‘I’ve said it more than once… If they would want to change it, I wish they would. In many ways, I wish they would.’
(Text courtesy of Metro)