The NBA game is a visual game. There are strategic decisions, plays run, and thousands of tiny details to be followed below the surface. Yet at the end of the day, the NBA is such a popular product because of the visuals – the dunks, the crossovers, the celebrations, the shoes, and especially the jerseys.
Other sports leagues have equally recognizable uniforms, but none of the other top leagues embrace creativity and visual pop like the NBA. Each team has a variety of jerseys each year to choose from, and every season teams are coming out with new looks to show off their players and draw the eye (and money, to be honest) of fans.
Every NBA team wears their jerseys with pride, but not every blouse is created equal. Which teams have the best jerseys, and which have room to improve?
NBA power rankings: Ranking all 30 teams’ NBA jerseys
The question then becomes, who has the best jerseys? Which look the best and which teams need to go back to the drawing board? This is a difficult, and subjective, question all on its own but becomes even more complicated when you factor in that each team has anywhere from four to six jerseys. This year, the league’s 75th anniversary season, only adds to the number of potential looks floating around.
We’re going to try and simplify things a bit, and only look at the primary three jersey looks for each team. Nike brands these the “Association” Edition (home whites), the “Icon” Edition (colorful, former road jerseys), and the “Statement” Edition (Jordan brand, bold look). All 30 teams kept these jerseys the same this year, so we have had at least a full season from each to evaluate.
The City Edition jerseys are almost entirely new this season. We left them out of the equation here, but look at a breakdown and ranking here. For those teams that have other alternates, including the “Classic” Edition for the league’s three teams also celebrating an anniversary (New York Knicks, Boston Celtics, and Golden State Warriors), they will not be included them here. Shout out to Locker Vision for providing visuals of all jerseys this season, as well as the schedule of when each will be worn.
Our criteria for evaluating the jerseys take a lot into account. How clean is the look? Is it confusing? How well do the colors work together? How does it represent the city and the team? What history is involved in that look? Do I like it? All of these factors and more went into the ranking.
Finally, I thought it would be helpful to bring in an outside perspective. Evaluating jerseys for diehard fans is one thing, but what do casual or “non-fans” think? To help with this, I pulled in the opinion of my wife, who doesn’t watch basketball. What did she think of the jerseys at first glance?
Without further ado, let’s jump in with our 30th ranked team, which made a design choice for all three jerseys that simply doesn’t look good.