There is a growing sentiment that Twitter being terrible is no longer hyperbole, and that Meta’s release of a similar new platform, Threads, is a sign of an impending shakeup in the social media landscape. But one bright spot to scrolling Twitter these days is the parody account NBA Paints, which shares creative drawings crudely put together using Microsoft Paint. The account first cropped up in late 2020, mostly featuring drawings based on interpretations of NBA players’ names (Damian Lizard for Damian Lillard, for example).
NBA Paints is run anonymously by a fan who first came up with the idea after joking with friends in a fantasy basketball league. The goal has been to make people laugh and break up some of the vitriol of the NBA Twitter echo chamber. The account has grown to more than 207,000 followers and often gets the attention of NBA players and teams.
Over the past couple months, NBA Paint has been critiquing and then redesigning the logos of NBA teams. (If you’re really into art projects like this, popular illustrator @CornDoggyLOL is doing an NFL version of this).
On Thursday afternoon, NBA Paint got around to redesigning the 76ers logo. The main complaint is that the current logo looks like a volleyball and would get very dirty in real life. That’s odd, but valid. The reimagined Sixers logo NBA Paint created is based on the “7” and “6” being brothers who play offense and defense.
Compared to some of the other designs NBA Paint has done, this is more “cute” than visually appealing on a jersey. It’s to the artist’s credit that some of the logos, like the one made for the Oklahoma City Thunder, are silly but actually look pretty cool.
As always, NBA Paint’s logos can be purchased on shirts, hats and other merch. In the past, the account has done wonders with former Sixers Matisse Thybulle and Shake Milton. It has also mined the sorrow of Philadelphia by recreating Kawhi Leonard’s Game 7 dagger against the Sixers.
The Sixers gave their stamp of approval to the new logo on Thursday afternoon.