78 Fun Facts About NBA Logo

Which player's silhouette is the basis of the NBA's own logo?

Jerry West was the dribbling Laker in a magazine photograph that designer Alan Siegel traced in 1969. The league has never officially confirmed it, yet West was known as "the Logo" for the rest of his life.

The Celtics' leprechaun logo was drawn by the brother of which Boston coach?

Red Auerbach had just taken over as coach when his younger brother Zang, a newspaper cartoonist, drew the leprechaun that replaced the club's plain shamrock in the early 1950s.

What is the name of the leprechaun on the Celtics logo?

Lucky winks, rests one hand on a shillelagh and spins a ball on a fingertip. He was drawn in just three colours until a full-colour makeover for the club's 50th anniversary in 1996-97.

Which NBA team played its first 50 seasons without ever redesigning its primary logo?

Chicago Bulls players have worn the same scowling red bull since the club joined the league in 1966. Founder Dick Klein is said to have settled on the name when his son dismissed his other ideas as a bunch of bull.

The Toronto Raptors' original dinosaur logo was inspired by the popularity of which film?

Jurassic Park had put velociraptors on screen in 1993, and Raptors went on to beat shortlisted names such as Dragons, T-Rex and Hogs, a nod to Toronto's old nickname Hogtown.

Toronto dropped the idea of reviving the Huskies name because any logo would resemble which team's?

A nationwide contest chose the Raptors name and colours instead.

The Toronto Raptors' 2014 primary logo shows a basketball torn by what?

A raptor's claw slashes the left side of a silver ball, taking the place of the seams. Unveiled in December 2014, the badge retired the dribbling cartoon dinosaur the team had worn since 1995.

The Milwaukee Bucks are named after which animal, Wisconsin's official state wildlife animal?

The white-tailed deer became the emblem in 1968 when contest judges picked Bucks, persuaded by one fan's case that bucks are spirited, fast, agile and good jumpers. His entry won him a new car.

The Bucks' deer mascot is named after an announcer's shout for long baskets; what is he called?

Bango was what Eddie Doucette, the team's first play-by-play voice, yelled whenever a Buck hit from long range. The word easily won the contest to name the new mascot, who first appeared in October 1977.

What does the Portland Trail Blazers' famous pinwheel logo actually depict?

Founder Harry Glickman's cousin designed it as a graphic of two five-on-five teams facing off.

The bridge on the Golden State Warriors' logo is not the Golden Gate but which other span?

The Bay Bridge's new eastern span, still unfinished when the logo appeared in 2010, links the team's first California home in San Francisco with Oakland. The 1960s original, reading "The City", did show the Golden Gate.

The Atlanta Hawks' 1972-95 hawk-head logo is nicknamed after which video game character?

Pac-Man is what fans saw in the round red hawk's head with its sharp beak. A modernised version returned as a secondary logo in 2014 and became the primary one a year later.

In the San Antonio Spurs logo, a stylised spur replaces which letter?

U gives way to a riding spur in the wordmark the club has used since it arrived in San Antonio in 1973. Before the move it had been the Dallas Chaparrals, with a running bird for a badge.

The Spurs' 1989-2002 logo used which unusual colour set, known as the Fiesta colours?

Pink, orange and turquoise filled the logo while the game uniforms stayed silver and black the whole time. The colours reached a Spurs jersey in 2020, on a Fiesta-themed City Edition.

What kind of animal's head, with a flaming mane, featured on the Detroit Pistons logo from 1996 to 2005?

A horse stood for horsepower, a pun on the engine part the team is named after. The logo went in 2005, but Hooper, the horse mascot adopted alongside it in 1996, outlived it.

The 76ers' first logo in 1963 carried a ring of stars to represent what?

The thirteen colonies declared independence in Philadelphia in 1776, the year the team is named after. The ring of stars returned when the club revived its classic look in place of a darker 1990s design.

The Utah Jazz's music-note logo, with a note forming the J, honours which city as the birthplace of jazz?

New Orleans was the team's home from 1974 to 1979. When it moved to Salt Lake City it kept the name, the note and even the Mardi Gras colours, which lasted until 1996.

The Utah Jazz's 1996 purple-mountains logo was developed from the logo of which 1993 event in Salt Lake City?

The NBA All-Star Game of 1993 got a mountain logo from league creative director Tom O'Grady, who had been struck by the colours of the Wasatch Range as he flew in. The Jazz liked it enough to ask him for a full rebrand.

The Houston Rockets' 1972-95 logo, a ball with two trails, was nicknamed after which condiments?

Ketchup and mustard was the fans' name for the red and yellow. After the 1995 title the club switched to navy blue and a cartoon rocket, then made red its main colour again in 2003.

What weapon pierced the words "Cleveland Cavaliers" on the logo the team adopted when LeBron James arrived?

A sword first appeared in the grip of the swashbuckling cavalier on the original logo. It vanished for about twenty years, returned in 2003 and left the primary logo again in 2022.

The Denver Nuggets' 1980s rainbow-skyline logo is nicknamed after which video game?

The team ditched the rainbow colours for navy, gold and wine in 1993-94.

Maxie the Miner, the Denver Nuggets' 1970s cartoon logo, held a basketball in one hand and what in the other?

A pickaxe stayed in the cartoon miner's grip as Denver moved from the ABA to the NBA in 1976. He was retired in the early 1980s, but crossed pickaxes returned on the logo the team adopted in the late 2010s.

Stan Fabe, a Tucson printer, designed the Phoenix Suns' first logo for how much?

$200 bought the sunburst from Fabe after the team had already paid a local artist $5,000 for a design it did not like.

In the Orlando Magic's original 1989 logo, a star replaced which letter of the team name?

The A became a star in both Orlando and Magic on the 1989 original, drawn up after meetings with Walt Disney World artists. The 2025 retro rebrand brought the star letter back.

The Miami Heat's primary logo is best described as what?

A chrome-treated version starred on the sleeved "Big Logo" uniforms of 2013.

One Pelicans secondary logo combines a pelican, a crescent basketball and which other emblem?

A fleur-de-lis gives the mark its punning name, the Bird-de-Lis. The lily has long flown on the city's flag, and a red one also tops the team's main logo.

In 2004 the Memphis Grizzlies swapped their Vancouver-era turquoise for a blue named after which Memphis road?

Beale Street blue, named for the city's famous strip of blues clubs, arrived in the 2004 redesign. FedExForum, the team's home arena, stands on the same street.

Vancouver's NBA team was first named after which Canadian institution, until that institution objected?

The Mounties was the first choice in 1994, but the Royal Canadian Mounted Police objected, so that August the club became the Grizzlies and put a bear on its logo instead.

The Thunder's sunset shade was chosen to sit between the colours of which college programmes?

The Sooners and the Cowboys wear crimson and orange, so owner Clay Bennett described the sunset shade as "not too red and not too orange". The sky blue came from the Oklahoma state flag.

In 1992 the Knicks redrew their classic roundball logo and set the ball on which shape?

A triangle went behind the ball in 1992 and survived the recolour of the early 2010s, which dropped black from the palette and changed nothing else.

Father Knickerbocker, the figure on the Knicks' first logo, takes his name from which author's pen name?

Washington Irving invented Diedrich Knickerbocker to narrate his comic 1809 history of New York. The name stuck to descendants of the city's Dutch settlers, then to New Yorkers at large, and to knee breeches.

The San Diego Clippers' first logo showed a sun and three shapes; what were the shapes?

Sails stood for the clipper ships that once passed through San Diego's harbour and gave the team its name in 1978. The club's G League team revived the three-sail logo in San Diego in 2024.

The Washington Bullets' logo turned the two Ls in the team name into what?

A pair of hands reached up from the two Ls towards a basketball, a design that lasted from the late 1960s until 1997. Owner Abe Pollin then dropped the Bullets name over its violent overtones.

The Wizards' 2015 primary logo is built around a D.C. landmark drawn into a basketball, a design the team calls what?

The monument ball works the Washington Monument into a basketball and had been in use since 2011. In 2015 it displaced the wizard-and-moon logo the team introduced in 1997.

The Dallas Mavericks' 2001 redesign dropped which object that had topped the M on their logo?

A cowboy hat inspired by founding owner Don Carter's white Stetson had topped the M for two decades, until a stallion replaced it in 2001.

The NBA's Bobcats unveiled a snarling cat logo noted for its likeness to which NFL team's?

The Carolina Panthers share the city, and the Associated Press report on the 2003 unveiling called the two logos strikingly similar. Bobcats had beaten Flight and Dragons to the name.

The Charlotte Hornets' classic 1990s logo showed a teal and purple hornet doing what?

Dribbling in gloves and sneakers, the hornet wore colours picked by fashion designer Alexander Julian. The look sold so well that new teams across baseball and hockey copied its teal.

The Sacramento Kings' logo carries an object atop half a basketball; what is it?

A crown over a half-ball first appeared in the team's last days as the Cincinnati Royals and returned in 2016. The franchise became the Kings in 1972 because Kansas City's baseball team was already the Royals.

The Brooklyn Nets' 2012 identity was defined by which colour scheme?

Black and white arrived with the 2012 move from New Jersey, a look credited to part-owner Jay-Z and modelled on old New York subway signs.

Which team's logo shows its full name in purple across a golden basketball?

Los Angeles Lakers is a name carried west from Minneapolis in 1960, where it had saluted Minnesota's nickname, the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

The Bulls' early-1970s alternate logo added a cloud beneath the bull's nose reading what?

Windy City sat in a cloud under the bull's nose in the early 1970s. The nickname came back in 2016 as the name of the club's minor-league affiliate, the Windy City Bulls.

The Toronto Raptors' original silver colour was named in honour of whom?

James Naismith, the Canadian-born inventor of basketball, gave his name to Naismith silver, which sat beside purple, bright red and black in the 1994 palette.

The Seattle SuperSonics' classic logo of the 1970s and 1980s featured which landmark?

The Space Needle had also stood at the centre of the 1967 original. The team name saluted Boeing's planned supersonic airliner, a project cancelled in 1971.

In 1997-98 the 76ers made black, silver and which other colour their core colours?

Gold lettering spelled out 76ers on the new logo, and red and blue stayed on only as trim. Allen Iverson's team wore the look to the 2001 NBA Finals.

In Philadelphia's 1997-98 NBA logo, a single silver star sat inside which numeral or letter?

The 7 held the lone star, where the classic logo sets a ring of stars above the same numeral. The team later went back to that older red, white and blue design.

For its 75th anniversary season in 2021-22, the NBA set its silhouette logo inside which shape?

A diamond is the traditional symbol of a 75th anniversary, so it framed the logo on courts and merchandise all season. The league also named a 75th Anniversary Team of its greatest players.

The Timberwolves' 2017 logo showed a wolf howling at which star?

The North Star stood for Minnesota, and the team said it also meant following true north together. It was worked into the seams of the basketball behind the wolf.

Which colour joined blue on the Timberwolves' original 1989 uniforms?

Green sat beside royal blue and white from the first 1989 season. The team's 2026 rebrand went back to that original blue, green and white palette.

The Jumpman logo shows Michael Jordan in a leap he first struck for Life magazine, borrowed from which discipline?

Ballet supplied the pose: Jordan performed a grand jeté rather than a real dunk, holding the ball in his left hand, and a shoe designer later had him restage it for the logo.

Hugo, the insect mascot on the Charlotte Hornets' original logo, was designed by the daughter of which puppeteer?

Jim Henson's daughter Cheryl designed Hugo in 1988, one year before a hurricane of the same name hit the Carolinas.

Which Founding Father bounces a basketball on a secondary Philadelphia 76ers logo introduced for the 2015-16 season?

Benjamin Franklin bounces a ball in the secondary logo, and the dog mascot the team introduced in 2015 is named Franklin too.

Artists from which Florida resort were consulted when the Orlando Magic created their first logo in 1989?

Walt Disney World also inspired the name: Magic alludes to the area's biggest attraction and its Magic Kingdom, and the logo drew on more than 5,000 suggestions sent from around the country.

A New York Knicks alternate logo introduced for the 1995-96 season was modelled on which everyday transit object?

A subway token bearing the letters NYK first sat on the beltline of the Knicks' shorts, then moved to the back of the jersey in 2001.

The Warriors' famous 'The City' jerseys put the Golden Gate Bridge on the front and which vehicle on the back?

A cable car climbing a hill carried each player's number on the back, while the front number sat inside a circle framing the bridge.

Three stars on the Washington Wizards' 2015 logo stand for the District of Columbia and which two states?

Maryland and Virginia join the capital as the logo's three stars, a device also worn by the city's NHL team, the Capitals.

The Milwaukee Bucks' cream colour honours the city's old nickname, earned by the pale shade of which building material?

Bricks in a cream shade went into so many of Milwaukee's 19th-century buildings that it became the Cream City; the jerseys' side stripes are called the Cream City Rainbow.

Designer Alexander Julian's first Charlotte Hornets uniforms brought which pattern to the NBA?

Pinstripes ran in four colours on Julian's 1988 design, and the team's choice of teal set off a sports fashion craze into the early 1990s.

Which plant, drawn in white inside a circle, has been the Boston Celtics' main alternate logo since 1998?

A shamrock with three leaves stood for the team before the leprechaun did: the alternate mark is based on logos the Celtics used in their earliest seasons.

Besides a basketball, the leprechaun on the Boston Celtics logo carries which traditional Irish item?

A shillelagh, the Irish wooden club, turned brown only in 1996, when the logo was first printed in full colour to mark the team's 50th anniversary.

The NBA's Pelicans take their name and logo from the brown pelican, the official state bird of where?

Louisiana's state bird gave the franchise its name in 2013, when it gave up the Hornets nickname that Charlotte then reclaimed.

The NBA's 76ers take their name and numeral logo from which document, signed in Philadelphia?

The Declaration of Independence inspired the winning entry in a name-the-team contest held when the Syracuse Nationals moved to Philadelphia in 1963.

Slamson, the Sacramento Kings mascot who also appears on a team alternate logo, is which animal?

A lion has been the Kings' mascot since the 1997-98 season, and a standing lion crest replaced the usual emblem on the club's black uniforms.

On the Washington Wizards' first logo in 1997, the wizard conjured a basketball alongside which heavenly body?

A crescent moon hung beside the figure until 2015, when the team retired the wizard logo; forward Juwan Howard had sat on the committee that chose the design.

Which colour name do the Cleveland Cavaliers give the deep red they first wore in 1970?

Wine came back in 2003 after two decades in other colours, and in 2010 the team restored the exact shades it first wore from 1970 to 1983.

The G in the NBA G League's name and logo was adopted in 2017 for which sponsor?

Gatorade paid to rename the old D-League, making it the first American professional sports league named for an advertiser.

Eiko Ishioka, co-designer of the Houston Rockets' 2003 logo and uniforms, won an Oscar for the costumes of which film?

Bram Stoker's Dracula won her the costume Oscar; for the Rockets she handled the uniforms while Rafael Esquer drew the R shaped like a rocket lifting off.

The Los Angeles Clippers' logo for 2024-25 rings a clipper ship with pointed marks inspired by which instrument?

A compass points the way on the logo adopted for 2024-25, the Clippers' first season at Intuit Dome, and the ship's hull carries a basketball silhouette.

Which city's tree logo did the Golden State Warriors wear on 'The Town' uniforms from 2017 to 2019?

Oakland's oak tree emblem went on the slate-grey uniforms shortly before the Warriors moved to San Francisco's Chase Center in 2019.

From 2008 to 2011, NBA teams playing on Christmas Day wore a patch setting the league logo inside what?

A snowflake framed the logo on a holiday the NBA has played every year since 1947, apart from one season shortened by a lockout.

Which two-time Finals MVP sued a sportswear giant in 2019 over the rights to his 'Klaw' logo?

Kawhi Leonard, nicknamed the Klaw for his ball-hawking defence, claimed the company had copyrighted the logo without his consent.

The first NBA team to announce a jersey sponsor patch, the Philadelphia 76ers, signed with which ticket marketplace?

StubHub's patch helped make the NBA the first of the four big North American leagues to allow sponsor logos on game uniforms, starting in 2017-18.

The Milwaukee Bucks' purple look of the 1990s was inspired by merchandise from which tennis tournament?

Wimbledon gear, a cap and a shirt in the tournament's colours, reached NBA creative director Tom O'Grady in a mysterious FedEx package in 1992.

The Orlando Magic's 2000 redesign kept the stars but reshaped the logo's basketball to resemble what?

A comet streaked across the logo until 2010, when the move to Amway Center brought a mark that spelled out Magic in full for the first time.

The Buffalo Braves, who later became the Clippers, used a logo pairing the letter B with what?

A feather trailed from the B, and the Clippers have since revived the Braves look in occasional throwback uniforms.

The Detroit Pistons' 2017 logo modernised the mark the team wore during which nicknamed era?

The Bad Boys logo served from 1979 to 1996, outlasting the lightning bolts that Detroit wore on its uniforms until 1981.

Which rapper designed the alternate uniforms that the Dallas Mavericks introduced for the 2004-05 season?

Diddy, born Sean Combs, modelled the set on the team's 1980s road uniforms, with a white Mavs script across the chest.

When the NBA refreshed its silhouette logo in 2017, what changed along with a richer colour scheme?

The lettering was redrawn and little else: the 2017 version was largely identical to the logo first drawn in 1969.

The Phoenix Suns' 'The Valley' uniforms show a rainbow sunset over which Arizona landmark?

Camelback Mountain is a marker of the Phoenix valley that names the set, and the Suns kept the look for an extra season when other teams changed theirs.