When you think about the most iconic NBA jerseys of all time, which ones come to mind? The Vince Carter era Raptors jerseys? The Shaq and Penny era Magic jerseys? The Suns jerseys, known best from their Finals run in 1993?
Regardless of your answer, the throughline you’ll find is the personality and nostalgia that these jerseys evoke through bright colors, creative font types, logo placement and a general feel of liveliness.
When Nike took over as the brand sponsor for all NBA jerseys in 2017, they brought new jerseys to all 30 NBA teams, embellishing a swoosh on the right front shoulder, implementing a brand new jersey concept for each team that would be renewed every year: The “City Edition” jersey.
The concept behind these jerseys was simple; it was an attempt at encapsulating an aspect or the essence of the city the team is in, and was executed well enough in their inaugural season. There were some hits and misses in the batch, with the Heat’s “Miami Vice”-inspired jerseys being the most iconic. There were some utterly forgettable ones, and even some that were flat-out ugly, but giving fans a jersey that connects to the city they live in was an interesting idea and something to give fans excitement about every season.
Over the years, however, Nike started to show that their well of creativity was running dry. They used the same “City Edition” jerseys for some teams in consecutive years, like the Utah Jazz, and strayed from the concept the jerseys were founded on. With the leaks that have come out this year, there’s been an obsession with this dark gray theme that has made the jerseys feel dull and lack individuality. As of now, all 30 NBA teams have revealed their “City Edition” jersey or had it leaked online, and the majority of them feature a similar dark-gray base, with most of those jerseys featuring a single-color basic font that you might be able to find on Microsoft Word or Google Docs.
This year’s collection of jerseys feels like a batch of copy-and-paste projects that Nike mass-produced over a very short span of time. They don’t just lack creativity, but they lack the tie to the respective cities they’re based in. There’s no reason for excitement surrounding new NBA jerseys anymore, and this is largely due to Nike’s takeover of the team’s most fundamental piece of branding.
Not every NBA jersey is going to be special, but the mass production of jerseys kills team identity and deserts any chance at nostalgia.
“Nike is ruining the nostalgia of jerseys,” said Wizards star Kyle Kuzma on his X account, “Every year it’s a new jersey and what gets lost is brand identity.”
As it currently stands, the possibility of a return to the ‘90s era of jerseys – where I believe the NBA peaked in terms of their creativity with branding – is very slim. As a brand, Nike has centered its production and creation of NBA jerseys around getting out as many new jerseys as possible every single year with the hopes of selling as many new jerseys as possible. It’s a money-making strategy that simultaneously kills identity and nostalgia, and also diminishes the visual product of the NBA itself.
Logan Adams is a sophomore studying journalism. Please note that the views and opinions of the columnists do not reflect those of The Post. Want to talk more about it? Let Logan know by tweeting him @LoganA_NBA.
