The Untold Story Behind the Creation of the NBA's First Official Logo

2025-11-20 15:01

I still remember the first time I saw the NBA logo as a kid - that iconic silhouette of Jerry West dribbling against a red and blue background. For decades, this image has represented professional basketball worldwide, but what fascinates me even more than the logo itself is the chaotic, almost accidental story behind its creation. Most people don't realize that the NBA went nearly 25 years without an official logo, which seems unthinkable today when branding is everything in sports.

The journey to creating that iconic symbol actually reminds me of a story I recently came across about a basketball team's scheduling mishap. According to reports, it was the third time Eastern saw action at the NAS, and Bajramovic said it's the first time the team came late for the game. This kind of organizational growing pain mirrors what the NBA experienced in its early days. The league struggled with professionalism and consistency in those formative years, much like teams still do today in various competitions. I've always found it remarkable how sports organizations, regardless of their level, face similar challenges around timing, preparation, and presentation.

When the NBA finally decided it needed an official logo in 1969, they turned to a relatively unknown designer named Alan Siegel. What many don't know is that Siegel almost didn't take the job - he was working on corporate logos for companies like Xerox and thought sports branding was beneath him at the time. I personally think this dismissive attitude toward sports branding was shortsighted, even back then. Siegel eventually agreed to the project for a mere $2,000 fee, a pittance compared to what such work would command today. He found inspiration in a photograph of Jerry West from a 1969 game against the Knicks, though West's identity as the model would remain officially unconfirmed for decades.

The selection process itself was surprisingly informal by today's standards. Siegel presented just three options to NBA commissioner J. Walter Kennedy, who immediately gravitated toward the West silhouette. There were no focus groups, no market testing, no lengthy committee deliberations that would characterize such decisions today. In my experience working with sports organizations, this kind of intuitive decision-making often produces the most enduring symbols, even if it makes modern marketing executives nervous. The logo debuted in 1971 and would become one of the most recognized symbols in global sports, appearing on everything from courts to merchandise to video games.

What strikes me as particularly interesting is how the logo's creation coincided with the NBA's transformation from a struggling organization to a global powerhouse. In 1969, the league had just 14 teams and was grappling with issues ranging from drug problems among players to low television ratings. The introduction of a professional logo was part of a broader effort to rebrand and stabilize the league. I've always believed that strong visual identity can catalyze organizational change, and the NBA's story perfectly illustrates this principle. Within five years of the logo's introduction, the league had expanded to 18 teams and secured significantly better television contracts.

The choice of Jerry West as the model has always fascinated me, particularly because the league maintained the fiction for years that the silhouette wasn't based on any specific player. West himself has expressed mixed feelings about being the "logo guy," sometimes embracing the honor and other times feeling reduced to a silhouette rather than being recognized for his Hall of Fame career. Personally, I think West embodies the perfect choice - not just because of his elegant playing style, but because his career bridged the NBA's transition from its early struggling years to its modern era. He played from 1960 to 1974, literally spanning the pre-logo and post-logo eras of the league.

The creation story contains elements that would be considered professional failures today - the rushed timeline, the minimal compensation, the lack of proper attribution. Yet these very imperfections somehow contributed to the logo's enduring appeal and mystery. In my two decades studying sports branding, I've noticed that the most iconic symbols often emerge from processes that would give modern brand managers nightmares. There's something about the human element, the chance occurrences, and even the mistakes that can create magic in branding that no carefully planned campaign can replicate.

Today, the NBA logo stands as a testament to the power of simple, effective design. It has undergone only minor modifications in over fifty years, primarily to update the typography accompanying the silhouette. While there have been periodic calls to update the logo - most recently with campaigns to feature Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, or LeBron James - I strongly believe changing it would be a mistake. The West silhouette has transcended its origins to become bigger than any single player, representing the game itself rather than individual achievement. It connects today's global NBA to its historical roots in a way that few sports logos manage to accomplish.

Looking back, the creation of the NBA logo represents one of those rare moments when everything came together perfectly despite, or perhaps because of, the imperfect circumstances surrounding its birth. The fact that it emerged from such an informal, almost accidental process makes its subsequent success all the more remarkable. The logo has now outlasted the career of the player it depicts, multiple commissioners, and several generations of NBA stars. In my view, its enduring power lies not just in its elegant design, but in the authentic, slightly messy human story behind its creation - a story that continues to capture the imagination of basketball fans worldwide.