In a way, Jerry West is the most recognizable basketball player of all time. Well, he’s probably not, but his silhouette certainly is.
West has been the NBA’s logo for decades, as a picture of him dribbling has been stylized into the familiar red, white, and blue symbol of the league. In the past, West has expressed discontent with the fact that he earned this honor, and on Friday, he told ESPN’s The Jump that he thinks it’s time someone else becomes the logo.
“If they would want to change it, I wish they would,” West said. “In many ways, I wish they would.”
When pressed by Rachel Nichols about who his ideal replacement would be, West decided to play it cool.
“I would be biased, I’m not gonna say,” West said. “Maybe they could put the commissioner on there. Adam Silver would look great.”
Since his NBA career came to an end, West has established himself as one of the best front office executives in league history. A number of all-time great players – Magic Johnson, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (who was on The Jump with West), Shaquille O’Neal, Kobe Bryant – played for West while he was the general manager of the Los Angeles Lakers. He’s also spent time as the general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies. Currently, West is an executive for the Golden State Warriors.
If the league were to update the logo, you would think that those four Lakers would probably be in the discussion, along with guys like Michael Jordan and Bill Russell. Or the league can go in a much sillier direction and just make the new logo the Crying Jordan meme. That probably would be a terrible idea from a branding perspective, but at least it would be funny.
