"That's a tough one," Rodman said outside of Staples Center on Tuesday ... "Kobe has the charisma for the signature of a logo, but I'm holding my vote on that one."

Of course, tons of people have been in favor of the change -- celebs from Snoop Dogg to Julian Edelman have tweeted their support for it -- and an online petition earned more than 3 MILLION signatures last week.

On top of that, Paul Pierce recently told us he's all for the league making Mamba the logo and retiring both of his jersey numbers.

But, Rodman says Jerry West has just meant too much to him and too much to the game to pull him off the Association's iconic trademark, telling us, "I'm a good friend of Jerry West."

"He's been a mentor of mine for a long, long time," Rodman says ... "[It should] stay the way it is."

Don't get it twisted ... Rodman says he's been torn up ever since he learned of Kobe's tragic helicopter crash on January 26 -- telling us KB was one of "the most" exciting and inspirational people "in the world."