Officially, the NBA's logo is blank. It is an anonymous, faceless player dribbling a ball against a red and white background. That's the NBA's story and it's sticking to it. Unofficially, however, the logo is well known to be the silhouette of one of the league's first true icons: Jerry West, who died Wednesday at age 86.

After decades of the league having avoided the issue, Commissioner Adam Silver said what most people knew all along: It is Jerry West in the league’s iconic logo.

David Stern spent 30 years as the NBA's longest-serving commissioner, but he refused to admit the obvious: Lakers legend Jerry West was the inspiration for the logo.

Basketball legend and Hall of Famer Jerry West, who’s silhouette is used in the NBA’s iconic logo, has died. He was 86. The Los Angeles Clippers whom West served for as an adviser and executive board member,

Legendary Los Angeles Lakers player and executive Jerry West, who has passed away at the age of 86, was the inspiration for the NBA’s logo.

Jerry West was remembered at the NBA Finals on Wednesday night. The NBA and the fans at Game 3 in Dallas paid tribute to the life of the Basketball Hall of Famer with a pregame video tribute and moment of silence before the game.

"The NBA logo was created long before I joined the league but there was never any doubt in my mind, or in Jerry West's, that his image was the inspiration for it," NBA commissioner Adam Silver told the New York Times' Benjamin Hoffman on Wednesday.

- The NBA logo in shown on a basketball court in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., Friday, Aug. 28, 2020. Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame three times in a legendary career as a player and executive and whose silhouette is considered to be the basis of the NBA logo,