This NBA player’s custom Adidas logo is too clever for its own good

Adidas is known for its athlete collaborations, often marking the occasion with a new logo, but impressing sports fans and design critics alike is no mean feat. Jalen 'J-Dub' Williams is certainly not the first NBA player to score a collab with the sports brand, but his unique logo design might be the most controversial, with fans divided over his signature identity.

While there are no strict rules when it comes to designing a logo, nailing the perfect look can be tricky, especially with a horde of opinionated sports fans ready to give their two cents. J-Dub's logo might not be a winner in everyone's book, but as sports logos go, it's a slick identity that still carries an off-court appeal.

While J-Dub's logo debuted last year via a sneak peek on the NBA player's Instagram story, it wasn't until recently that the design was spotted on the court. Sporting a custom version of Adidas x James Harden sneakers, the lime green and pink custom kicks feature the controversial logo on the heel, and eagle-eyed fans were quick to notice.

The symmetrical design is supposed to read 'dub', but due to the typography's ambiguous design of the 'J' doubling as a 'D', fans claimed they were misreading it as 'jub'. Other fans said the design was too similar to another NBA player's design, with one commenting on Instagram, "It's like half Harden's logo." Another claimed that the design "Kinda looked like Ellesse’s logo."

While J-Dub's custom Adidas logo is clever in concept, I think it suffers from doing too much. There's always the danger that dual designs run the risk of being misinterpreted, and on this occasion, the clever typography only overcomplicates what could be a successful, slick design. For more creative inspiration, take a look at the best sports logos of all time.