Petition to make Kobe new NBA logo passes 2.5 million

LOS ANGELES, CA – JANUARY 28: Signage memorializes former NBA great Kobe Bryant who, along with his 13-year-old daughter Gianna, died January 26 in a helicopter crash, on January 28, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. Kobe and “Gigi” were among nine people killed in the crash in Calabasas, California as they were flying to his Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks, where he was going to coach her in a tournament game. David McNew/Getty Images/AFP

A petition to make LA Lakers legend Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash, the new NBA logo has become the first petition of 2020 on change.org to pass a million signatures.

Justin Bieber, Snoop Dogg and Usher have all backed the move, which had received 2.6 million signatures by Wednesday, well on the way to its target of 3 million.

“When I started this petition I was just some 16 year old kid who had just lost his role model and hero,” wrote Nick Moghtader from Vancouver in Canada, who registered the petition.

“I was using it as a way to cope and mourn his passing. My initial goal was to get a mere 100 signatures. Never would I have thought for this petition to get so incredibly big,” he wrote.

The NBA’s current logo features a white silhouette of Jerry West — another LA Lakers legend — and has been around since 1969.

West later became the Lakers’ general manager, picking a 17-year-old Bryant straight out of high school in the 1996 draft.

Bryant went on to become a five-time NBA champion with the Lakers over 20 seasons, retiring with 33,643 points, 7,047 rebounds and 6,306 assists over 1,346 career NBA contests and making history from first game to last.

As a rookie in 1996, Bryant was then the NBA’s youngest-ever player, days after his 18th birthday. At 37 in 2016, he scored 60 points in his final NBA game, the oldest player to reach the milestone.

Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people were killed in the crash in Los Angeles on Sunday.