The San Antonio Spurs filed multiple trademark applications on June 7, 2017 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 bear 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 Dallas Chaparrals, 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.
