The NBA logo — a silhouette of a player dribbling and contorting his body — is Laker Jerry West. The NBA knows this. Fans know this. Even West knows this.
But does the NBA pay West for the millions it makes in merchandise sales? Of course not.
Alan Siegel designed the NBA logo in 1969 when West was still playing. The league wanted something similar to the MLB’s red, white, and blue design and Siegel ran through photographs of NBA players for inspiration. Then, he saw the shot of West dribbling downcourt, with his body ever so slightly contorted, and everything else was history.
Siegel believes he knows why David Stern and the NBA say there is no record of West being the Logo.
“They want to institutionalize it rather than individualize it,” Siegel said. “It’s become such a ubiquitous, classic symbol and focal point of their identity and their licensing program that they don’t necessarily want to identify it with one player.”
I would say West manages to keep a pretty good attitude about the millions he’s missing out on. But, he still deserves to get heated every once in a while.
“I think it would be nice to get a royalty off of that,” West added. “That would be pretty cool.”
[LA TIMES]
