NBA Logo

NBA (or National Basketball Association) is the highest professional league of the American basketball. All the celebrities associated with this sport are part of this organization, which is saying a lot about its influence, considering how many basketball celebrities there are in America.

Meaning and History

NBA has been around since 1946, when it replaced several preceding leagues, including for instance the Basketball Association of America. However, the organization didn’t have any distinctive symbols or logotypes.

1950 – 1953

The first symbol was an old-fashioned white basketball with some red writing on it. There have been two curvy seams in the top and bottom of the ball. Above the upper seam, there was small writing that said ‘1950-51’ – for the years of the first league.
In-between the two seams were also three words ‘National Basketball Association’, with the first and the last were stylistically shaped to fit the curves of the seams.

1953 – 1962

In 1953, they changed the logo to a more concise design. It was now a usual brownish basketball with an acronym ‘NBA’ written in white uppercase letters. There were also several white seams to back up the color scheme, but that’s it.

1962 – 1969

In 1962, the design of the ball changed once more. It was now a plain grey ball with four black seams – two in the bottom and two on the top. In-between, there were three black letters that spelled the league’s name, positioned diagonally this time, and not horizontally.

1969 – 2017

The 1969 design has been used for the longest time, and was carried even into our days. It was a rapid evolution, in that the central piece was now a player’s white silhouette set against a rectangle with a double-colored (blue and red) background. The player’s figure divided the background into two parts.
On the left (blue) part right beside the player’s leg, there was an acronym in pretty basic white characters.

2017 – today

In 2017, the logo changed slightly. Notably, the letters were stretched vertically, and the color blue became deeper and darker. That’s about it for this stage.

Emblem and Symbol

The person depicted on the 1969 logo is none other than a legendary basketball player Jerry West. He was a symbol for the Association for decades now, and, in fact, lately people have suggesting replacing the player with some other celebrated figure from the recent years.