No go for new NBA logo
Ilove Kobe Bryant but I don’t want his silhouette to be the new logo of the National Basketball Association.
In the first place, what’s wrong with the current NBA logo? It could be or not be the visage of Hall of Famer Jerry West, who like Kobe is also Lakers legend. No one has really acknowledged that the silhouette in the NBA logo was cast in the image of Mr. Clutch, much like no one really knows if the silhouette in the logo of our very own Philippine Basketball Association is of the Big J himself, Robert Jaworski.
And how does one exactly become The Logo of one of the four major sports in North America? If it’s by the number of championships, then a cutout of Bill Russell making one of his iconic blocks should have made the grade. If it’s the most points scored, then Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s skyhook should be immortalized and emblazoned in every NBA merchandize. If measured by shepherding the NBA from its finals games broadcasted in tape delay to introducing it to a global audience, then either Magic Johnson or Larry Bird should have been The Logo.
I agree that Kobe has influenced a lot of the current generation of NBA players with his Mamba Mentality philosophy on the hard court. But why settle for the clone if you can get the original when deciding who becomes The Next Logo. It’s been well documented how No. 8 and later No. 24 patterned his game after Michael Jordan.
His Airness has all the cache to pull it off. He has six rings to Kobe’s five, has a higher scoring average than Bean (30.1 ppg to 25 ppg), has five regular season MVPs to Kobe’s one, and starred in Space Jam, arguably one of the most successful live-action sports comedy movies of all time (OK, Kobe won an Oscar for his short film “Dear Basketball” so it’s a tie in that front). Besides, everyone wanted to be like Mike, so why shouldn’t the NBA be the exception. The only problem is last time I checked, No. 23’s Jumpman logo is already taken and Black Jesus’ tongue sticking out may not be acceptable as the new NBA logo.
There’s also the question of perspective. I hate to say it, but what if in five or 10 years another transcendent superstar becomes the apple of everyone’s eye and diehard NBA fans want him to take over as the NBA logo?
I’m never really a fan of LeBron James (I still haven’t forgiven him for deserting DWade and the Miami Heat for Kyrie Irving and the Cavaliers) but his current career trajectory points to him passing Kareem as the all-time scoring leader in the NBA by the middle of the 2022 season. King James may not overtake Russell’s 11 championships, but he can add a couple or more before he ultimately retires. Aside from Jordan, LeBron also has the best case for becoming the new NBA logo. He’s also starring in Space Jam II so that’s another plus.
So should we just make who becomes the NBA logo a periodic thing? Kobe now then after LeBron retires, it’ll be his turn, and then after him Baby Goat Tyler Herro gets a shot (I’m of course just kidding) and so on and so forth. So you see, folks, this whole let’s-change-the-NBA logo thing has opened a sort of Pandora’s box. The NBA can end the debate by merely adopting a generic logo like the ones used by the other major sports in North America - the NFL, MLB, and NHL. Or maybe, we can just let The Logo stay on as The Logo.