Atlanta Hawks: The Atlanta Hawks weren’t always the Atlanta Hawks. They started as the Buffalo Bisons in 1946 in New York.
Then, they moved to Moline, Ill., and became the Tri-Cities Blackhawks. Their logo was a light blue basketball with the names of the three cities the team represented: Moline, Rock Island, Ill., and Davenport, Iowa.
From there, the franchise moved to Milwaukee in 1951. The team shortened the name to “Hawks” and changed the logo to a white hawk, outlined in red, carrying a basketball with the basket underneath and the “Milwaukee Hawks” in a parabolic shape.
The Hawks moved to St. Louis in 1955 and went with a black hawk carrying a white basketball by its beak. In 1957, the team changed its logo to a Hawk in a triple-threat position, wearing a white Hawks jersey and kneepads, with the team name spelled out in black letters.
Atlanta Hawks When the Hawks moved to Atlanta in 1968, they kept the same logo, except for a few small changes. They outlined the Hawk in black and got rid of the “St. Louis Hawks” name underneath the Hawk posing with the ball.
In 1970, the logo was transformed to a red Hawk in a Hawks jersey with kneepads dribbling a basketball. They kept that logo for a year until they changed it again to a hawk in blue facing to the right. It is encircled by a lime green background, with a blue outline that continues from the hawk in blue.
In 1972, the team changed the logo to an almost “reverse Pacman” with “Atlanta Hawks” transcribed in red at the bottom of the logo and the outline of a Hawk serving as the “mouth” of the “reverse Pacman.”
From 1996-2007, a new Hawks logo was featured with a Hawk in red spreading out its wings, while its claws grasp onto a basketball. “ATLANTA HAWKS” is spread at the top of the logo.
In 2008, the logo went through some minor changes, replacing a yellow outline with navy blue.
The current Hawks logo is just like the “reverse Pacman” one used from 1972 to 1995, but encircled in red is “Atlanta Hawks Basketball Club” in white typography, along with another white circle, then red, to complete the logo.
Boston Celtics: The first Boston Celtics logo, from 1947 to 1950, was a white shamrock inside of a green circle background with “Celtics” white lettering at the top.
In 1951, the logo was changed to a leprechaun wearing a crown in white, jumping while holding a cane.
A new version of the leprechaun logo in 1961 featured an orange background in the logo.
Then, in 1969, the leprechaun logo was redesigned with the leprechaun wearing a green Irish hat, with a basketball on his pointer finger and cane in his left hand. There is a reddish-brown basketball as the background, as well as “Boston Celtics” in white letters on one side of each other.
The updated version of the leprechaun logo from 1977 to 1996 is a green-colored leprechaun, with a green ring around the leprechaun and the typography “Boston Celtics” in white.
The current logo of the Celtics has slight color changes, including the skin tone of the leprechaun. The cane and basketball also are brown, his vest and stripe across his hat are gold, the green circle is a darker green, and there is a black outline around the dark green circle that says “Boston Celtics in white.
Brooklyn Nets: n 1967, the New Jersey Americans logo is a red, white and blue shield, with a red, white and blue basketball in the center and “N.J. Americans” spread across the top of the shield. There are three white stars on each side of the shield.
In 1968, the team moved to Long Island, N.Y., becoming the “New York Nets.” They replaced the American shield with a large “NY” in red letters and “nets” in a blue cursive wordmark with a basketball player playing in the color black.
In 1973, there were some slight changes to the logo as the generic player was dropped and in the “NY nets” was a red, white and blue basketball.
In 1977, the team moved to New Jersey and followed a similar logo to the last New York Nets logo with a red, white and blue basketball. On the top portion of the logo in white lettering, it says “New Jersey.” The “nets” typography is enhanced and darkened, with “Basketball” appearing on the bottom blue portion of the basketball in white letters.
The team completely redesigned its logo in 1979 as they still had a red, white and blue theme, but incorporated the state of New Jersey in it in white, with “New Jersey” right next to it. “Nets” appeared in a white wordmark near the bottom of the logo.
Then, in 1997, the team changed its logo to a red, white and blue gradient with “Nets” at the top of a gradient basketball.
From 1998-2012, the team’s logo returned to the shield design from the first logo with a ring around the shield. Inside the shield, a silver basketball was featured. The color scheme changed as the red got darker, navy blue was the change of blue, and the team added silver and gray.
The team moved to Brooklyn in 2012, changing the logo to a white basketball with a black “B” on it and in the black circle contained the lettering “Brooklyn New York” in white.
The current logo slightly changed by going back to the shield concept with “Nets” on top of the inside of the shield and the white basketball with the black “B” on it. “Brooklyn” lettering is underneath the shield.
Charlotte Hornets: The original Hornets franchise was founded in 1988 as an expansion team and unveiled the logo of a teal colored hornet dribbling a basketball with a lighter wordmark “CHARLOTTE” on top of the hornet with “HORNETS” at the bottom.
In 2004, Charlotte became the Bobcats with the inaugural logo being a roaring dark orange bobcat with “BOBCATS” above it and the wordmark “Charlotte” on top.
In 2008, the orange bobcat became a lighter orange while the other parts of the logo did not change.
There was a slight color iteration in 2012 when the bobcat color was turned to gray and the “BOBCATS” lettering is in white and the “CHARLOTTE” wordmark is in orange and inside the logo.
In 2014, the Charlotte Bobcats went back to being the Hornets like in the past. The logo has a fierce looking hornet with its white eyes tilted downward in a menacing stare. The raised wings and antennae suggest a fierceness and intensity. Within the logo is a basketball as part of the body, and the stinger is attached to the basketball. The lettering, “CHARLOTTE HORNETS” is in white across the logo.
Chicago Bulls: From 1966 to the Michael Jordan era to the present day, the Chicago Bulls have kept the same logo.
It contains a dark black wordmark “CHICAGO BULLS” on top of a red bull, who looks raging and has blood on the tips of its horns.
Cleveland Cavaliers: The first Cavaliers logo in 1970 features a swashbuckling cavalier in red with “CAVALIERS” on the top and “CLEVELAND” on the bottom. There is a yellow basketball behind the cavalier.
In 1984, the team completely changed the logo to a red wordmark “CAVS” with the “V” acting as a basket and a red basketball on top of the “V” with white netting attached to the ball.
In 1995, the team changed the logo again with an orange-and-black-outlined basketball going into a white net inside a black background. The wordmark “CAVS” appears at the bottom of the background in baby blue.
In 2004, the Cavaliers logo was a red basketball, the wordmark of “Cleveland Cavaliers” on top of the basketball in white, with a gold sword piercing through the bottom right of the basketball to the “C” in “Cavaliers.” A slight change was made in 2011 as the cavalier sword was turned to a lighter gold, and the outline of the logo is lighter gold as well.
The current Cavaliers logo consists of a shield design with a wine and gold outline, the wordmark “CLEVELAND CAVALIERS” appearing at the top of the shield in white, and a gold sword piercing through a “C-sword” logo that has been featured in the past.
Dallas Mavericks: The inaugural Mavericks logo in 1980 featured a light green basketball with a blue M, and on the top right of it was a cowboy hat. The wordmark “DALLAS MAVERICKS” appeared in blue with a green outline.
In 1994, the original Mavericks logo underwent a slight update as “DALLAS MAVERICKS” appeared in solid blue with no green outline.
In 2002, the team shifted to a different logo, incorporating a shield concept with the head of a stallion and the mane sweeping outward over a basketball. The wordmark “Mavericks” appears on the bottom of the logo with a white star below it. The wordmark “DALLAS” in black appears above the stallion and at the top of the logo in smaller letters.
The current Mavericks logo underwent slight color iterations as the shield is a darker gray and the shade of blue next to the stallion appears darker.
Denver Nuggets: First, the Denver Nuggets were the “Denver Rockets” in 1967. The logo was a red basketball with the wordmark “ROCKETS” in black lettering encased in a black rectangle. A white ring around the basketball made up the “DENVER” wordmark, along with “RINGSBY SYSTEM” at the bottom in black. It was a design by the then-owner, Bill Ringsby.
In 1971, the team transformed the logo into a purple and yellow rocket dribbling a basketball across the Rocky Mountains with a purple circle, and in it was the “DENVER ROCKETS” wordmark in purple.
The first Denver Nuggets logo in 1974 featured a miner with a red beard and an axe in his right hand and basketball in his left with his legs spread apart. “Denver Nuggets” was curved around the miner in blue with a circle around the miner and team name.
In 1976, a slight change was made to the logo with the circle gone and “Denver” being in red and “Nuggets” being in blue with a unique font.
In 1981, the team changed its logo to a rainbow colored semi-circle with the cities being in rainbow colors, but the Rocky Mountains being white. The wordmark had a similar font, but it was in black.
From 1993 to 2003, the team transformed the logo with a dark blue mountain peak appearing at the top of the logo and a ribbon saying “Denver” stretched across the mountain. In dark gold, “Nuggets” appeared at the bottom of the mountain and “Denver” wordmark.
In 2003, the team had a few color iterations to the logo making the peak a lighter blue and the ribbon with “Denver” a light blue and yellow for “Nuggets.”
The logo in 2008 had another color change with the mountain being a darker navy blue.
The current Nuggets logo unveiled in 2018 features two gold pickaxes crossing each other with a mountain peak at the top of where the points of the axes meet. A half-white and half-yellow basketball appears at the bottom. The logo is enclosed with a red circle and outside of that are “Denver Nuggets” in white arched around it. There is a yellow and red trim around the logo and two uniquely shaped stars on each side of the logo.
Detroit Pistons: The Detroit Pistons were not always the Detroit Pistons. They were once the Ft. Wayne Zollner Pistons, in which the first logo was an animated character, who appears to be made out of red cans going in for a layup. The new design of the logo featured a gray can man with a “Z” on his chest dribbling a basketball.
The first Detroit Pistons logo in 1957 was “Detroit Pistons” outlined in orange and “Basketball Club” in solid orange below with “National Basketball Assn” in blue. The whole logo is encircled in blue.
The only change in 1971 was the removal of “National Basketball Assn.”
In 1975, “Detroit Pistons” appears in solid orange with “NBA” also in orange beneath it, while the outline of the basketball is in solid blue.
From 1979 to 1996, the design of the logo was transformed to a red and white logo with “Detroit Pistons” appearing in the center of a basketball outline. The red basketball outline is encircled by a blue ring.
In 1996, the team revamped its logo, adding a horse’s head with a flaming mane and “Pistons” running across it. Both of the “s” letters act as tailpipes to stay with the “Motor City” theme. A red basketball is behind the horse and enclosed is a teal ring with “Detroit” in white at the bottom.
In 2001, the Pistons changed the colors of the 1996 logo to red and navy blue.
In 2005, the Pistons changed their logo to a red basketball with white outlines and “Detroit Pistons” in white with a blue outline. The whole logo is enclosed with white and blue rings.
In 2017, they changed to their current logo, which is similar to the logo used from 1979 to 1996, but now it has a darker red, blue and new font for the wordmark. There is also a gray ring around the blue ring.
Golden State Warriors: The original Philadelphia Warriors logo in 1946 was derived from a native American dribbling a basketball with “Warriors” in yellow cursive font. The next design of the Philadelphia Warriors logo has the “Warriors” wordmark in blue with “Philadelphia” on the “W.”
When the Warriors moved to San Francisco and changed their name to the “San Francisco Warriors” in 1962, the logo featured a blue and white Indian headdress inside of a yellow circle with a blue trim. “SAN FRANCISCO WARRIORS” is in blue with the “I” in “Warriors” as an arrow. The background on the wordmark is white while a blue trim and yellow ring enclose it.
The last San Francisco Warriors logo, from 1969 to 1971, was a blue bridge signifying the Golden Gate Bridge and a yellow background encircled with a blue ring. “The City” in blue is at the top of the logo.
In 1971, the first Golden State Warriors logo is an outline of California in blue and a blue star located on the Bay Area with yellow serving as the California color and the logo color. The number 14 in blue is to the right of the outline of California. A wordmark “Golden State Warriors” is arched from top to bottom in blue.
The next logo iteration in 1972 is similar to the previous one, but the wordmark “Warriors” and “Basketball” in blue appear at the top and bottom, respectively.
From 1975 to 1988, the team goes back to the 1972 logo, but adds lines to form a basketball on the yellow circle and removes the “14” on it.
The next team logo in 1988 features a rounder and more gold basketball with the wordmark “GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS” appearing in blue bold font stretched around the basketball.
The team revamped its logo in 1997 with a masked blue man (the Warriors’ mascot, Thunder) holding a lightning bolt that is attached to the “W” in “Warriors.” Behind him is a basketball with many borders and outlines.
The current Warriors logo, released in 2010, features the new Bay Bridge in yellow on a blue background with yellow and blue rings around it. The wordmark “Golden State Warriors” is arched on top and bottom of the logo.