The San Antonio Spurs filed multiple trademark applications on June 7 for a new logo that they planned to debut during the 2017 NBA Draft.
But, thanks to the power of the internet, the new logo was leaked, and the Spurs organization went ahead and made their new logo officially public.
San Antonio will continue to don their well-known black, silver, and white logo that spells out the city and team name, with the letter “U” being replaced with a spur. But, the new logo they’ve revealed will be an alternate logo, that they’ll wear for certain games during the 2017–2018 season and beyond.
The new logo will no longer the city name, nor a depiction of a spur. Rather, the logo is in the shape of a basketball, featuring a black ball lined with white ribs, and the letters “S” and “A” — for San Antonio — written vertically down the middle of the ball. It has a very similar feel to the logo of the Brooklyn Nets, with the initial(s) of the city inside of a basketball silhouette.
The Spurs have maintained the same logo since they first moved the city in 1973, and still played in the American Basketball Association (ABA). After briefly being named the San Antonio Gunsligners, the team changed its name to the Spurs, in homage to the metal tool designed to be worn on the heels of cowboy boots for the purpose of controlling a horse’s movement and direction. Given that the city of San Antonio is in the state of Texas, which is well known for its cowboy-related folklore, the name made sense.
San Antonio Spurs, LLC filed multiple trademark applications for the new black and white logo according to United States Patent and Trademark Office records. Those applications show the black and white basketball logo is being registered for use on a wide variety of merchandise, from shower curtains to garden gnomes.
In the four decades that the Spurs organization has been part of the National Basketball Association, the have won 22 division titles, and have won five NBA championships. Over the past 28 seasons, the Spurs have been to the playoffs 27 times, and have never missed the postseason since they drafted future Hall-of-Fame-player Tim Duncan in 1997. Over the past 20 consecutive seasons, the Spurs have had a winning percentage of at least .610, which is an NBA record.
San Antonio’s head coach, Gregg Popovich, is the longest tenured head coach in the NBA at present, and considered by many to be the best head coach in the league. He’s rightfully credited for so much more than simply presiding over a successful basketball; under his stewardship, the Spurs have developed an organizational culture that is unmatched in today’s NBA. Outside of Duncan and David Robinson, the Spurs haven’t had the luxury of building an organization through highly talented picks taken in the NBA lottery. Rather, they’ve deftly drafted and found players who fit their overall mission statement, and developed them to play basketball “the Spurs way.”
And now, Popovich’s players will play his style of basketball, with a brand new logo on their chests from time to time.
