{"id":85378,"date":"2020-02-12T23:20:38","date_gmt":"2020-02-13T05:20:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=85378"},"modified":"2020-03-18T14:11:32","modified_gmt":"2020-03-18T19:11:32","slug":"kobenext-nba-logo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/kobenext-nba-logo\/","title":{"rendered":"Kobe\u2026 next NBA logo?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Christopher Miller<\/strong>
\nMedill Reports<\/em><\/p>\n

LOS ANGELES \u2014 Red Auerbach. Bill Russell. Larry O\u2019Brien and Jerry West. They are all names connected to some of the NBA\u2019s most prestigious trophies, awards or logos. The name Kobe Bryant has yet to be etched in a similar capacity but it certainly should be, according to multiple Phoenix Suns\u2019 players.<\/p>\n

In the Suns\u2019 first visit to Staples Center since Bryant\u2019s passing, Phoenix fell to Kobe\u2019s beloved Lakers 125-100 on Monday night. While Bryant wasn\u2019t physically there, he was still on the minds of fans and players alike, as yellow and purple Nos. 8 and 24 jerseys were in abundance.<\/p>\n

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\u201c[I\u2019d] change the logo because anything you\u2019d see with the NBA would have his logo on it,\u201d Phoenix Suns point guard Jevon Carter said. \u201cHe was what every winning basketball player wanted to be \u2014 the type of competitor he was, how serious he took his work, how hard he worked, how much he worked. If you could tell any player anything about basketball or how you wanted them to be, you would tell them to be like Kobe Bryant, how he approached the game.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Carter, the one time he met Bryant remains a treasured experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the only celebrity I\u2019ve ever met that I was also a big-time fan of,\u201d Carter recalled. \u201cI was still in my kid phase when I met Kobe \u2014 he was everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fellow Phoenix point guard Ricky Rubio echoed his teammate\u2019s sentiments, asking that the NBA do more to honor the late Lakers star.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not the commissioner, so I don\u2019t know [what the league should do], but I know one thing for sure is that something needs to be done,\u201d Rubio said. \u201cWhat he did for basketball is amazing, which you can clearly see now. Players like him have to be honored the right way. He deserves a lot of credit for where the NBA is right now because of the way he played.\u201d<\/p>\n

Current NBA players aren\u2019t the only ones to voice their support for changing the NBA logo to a Kobe Bryant silhouette. Usher, Snoop Dogg, Justin Bieber, 2 Chainz and Meek Mill were among a handful of musical elite appealing on social media that the NBA play homage to Kobe through a logo change.<\/p>\n

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Couldn\u2019t be a better time or all around athlete and person for it. #changethelogo<\/a><\/p>\n

A post shared by Usher<\/a> (@usher) on