On Wednesday, the NBA released 16 new t-shirts called ‘Earned Edition’ t-shirts. In the season after advancing to the playoffs, the teams that managed to win one of these special shirts, hence the ‘win’ in the title.
In the near future, teams from this exclusive club will debut their t-shirts on the court. This tradition began after Nike took over the NBA uniform contract from the 2017-18 season.
Now, the first reaction to seeing the new shirts being discarded is to criticize them, of course.
I’m going to start by saying that I know the hardworking design teams in charge of designing these new uniforms have spent many hours carefully selecting how they would look, but just applauding each shirt is tedious, so let’s see our critical eye and really separate these things out. There will be some that I like, for sure, but some I’m ready to bake.
Many t-shirts resemble designs that we saw from the team before, while others give us a whole new look.
Let’s sort some shirts, right?
Western Conference
- Los Angeles Lakers
Let’s start with the Los Angeles Lakers, a great place to start. These shirts remind me a little of the “Black Mamba” shirts, with dark colors and simple design.
Small details like the “17” to represent the number of championships differentiate this shirt. Although it is simple, I like gray and how it anchors the shirt, allowing the purple and gold to really pop. It is not the most daring design I have ever seen, but I am far from offended by it. Good job defending champions. – Note: B +
2. Denver Nuggets
The fans in the responses seemed to love this shirt, but something about it is very strange to me. Perhaps because the bottom of the logo looks like the tip of a baseball bat and sees it as the focal point distracts? Or is white bothering me? I just want to like these t-shirts a lot more than I do.
I appreciate the little details in the shorts and I’m not protecting my eyes right away for this look, he just won’t go into the shirt’s Hall of Fame for me. – Serie B
3. Utah Jazz
Let’s all welcome green back to Utah’s uniform color scheme. At first glance, I thought, “Yes! The J note, bold colors, will stand out on the court”, and then I stared at them for a few minutes and questioned my own first impression of them. I started to realize that I can’t just take a quick look, I need to think about them in the context of the uniforms of previous teams and the other possibilities they had to work.
Purple would probably have been better, they are not as exciting as the “City Edition” uniforms and how the colors are used is not as bold as the colors themselves. The shorts also don’t give me great details to save the look. – Grade: C
4. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Dallas Mavericks – I mean, Oklahoma City Thunder has released a uniform that looks a bit like something I’ve seen before … It’s like when you forgot to do your homework in high school and ask your friend if you can copy hers and they say, “Yes, but change it a little bit so that the teacher doesn’t realize that you copied it.”
I had high hopes for Thunder and this uniform just hurts my eyes. I see what they were trying to do with the lyrics, but it looks like someone formatted it wrong and decided to continue. Since this is really the only creativity that this shirt has, and I don’t care about it, don’t expect a high grade. – Note: D +
5. Portland Trail Blazers
I’d like to start by giving them some extra credit for their video. This is difficult to assess, however, as the team announced that the uniforms will debut on Thursday. For now, I am hoping that they will look stylish and cool. – TBD grade
6. Dallas Mavericks
I feel that I have become progressively more cruel as the t-shirts are being put on, but, hey, the t-shirts are not getting better! These Mavs uniforms are really putting me to sleep. There is no need for melatonin, just look at them before you go to bed and you will be out in minutes.
Playing it safe is just, well, safe, but for a special edition shirt I’m looking for something you know right away that is a special edition. I look for risks and bold images, not what I feel I could project. And I don’t have a lot of skills to design t-shirts. –Grade C-
7. Los Angeles Clippers
When I first looked at these I thought it was a revelation image that they did without the colors, and the color version would be below. I was not so lucky, that’s exactly what they did. I love gray, I loved the Lakers shirt, but for light gray to be effective, you need to use it to allow another element of the uniform to stand out. Nothing here appears.
I really think that these are then close to being really clean, they just needed something that would make them a little bit more interesting. I will applaud them for at least choosing something different, even if it is an all gray and white shirt with the slightest hint of color. – Grade C
8. Houston Rockets
Good news, Rockets fans, these shirts are not as bad as your team right now! All I think about when I see red and black so heavy together is a college football uniform, but I’m going to put that aside and judge them fairly.
More good news: they are not so horrible. Yes, it looks like they put recent jersey designs in a mixer and took pieces of each, mixed them up and created this one, but I would say the team got the look they were looking for. Enjoy these Rockets fans, I’m not sure if you will receive another edition uniform won next year. – Serie B-
Eastern Conference
- Miami heat
When you think about Heat, the first thing you think about the color of the trophy is gold? Probably not. And for anyone wondering why I said “golden trophy” and not yellow, the team made it clear that they are NOT yellow and are a color that has been part of the color scheme for years. If they say it’s gold personally, I’ll believe it, but now I’m looking at a yellow shirt.
I’ll give Heat credit where credit is due, they are always doing their utmost when it comes to very new design ideas for their t-shirts. Love it or hate it, they are bold, and we saw that this will be the ‘Miami Vice’ series too. Your points here come from your willingness to take risks and I’m going to ignore the fact that I feel like I’m looking at an Indiana Pacers uniform. – Grade C +
2. Boston Celtics
I’m from Boston, but Celtics, why do you keep releasing the same shirt with a slightly different detail? I’m begging for something I didn’t see coming or something I’m dying to buy. I don’t understand that with that. They are better than some of their shirts in the past, but that shouldn’t be the bar. – Grade C-
3. Milwaukee Bucks
Right away, props for your social team for releasing images that really feel the contact with the team’s brand. The shirts are not very busy, but the details are very nice. The horns of bucks along the side provide a beautiful tribute to the logo without recycling it and taking this detail to the shorts works very well. – Grade A-
4. Brooklyn networks
When I was about 12 years old, I loved everything about Chevron and this is giving me a big flashback to those preteen years. I see what they were trying to do with the whole subway theme, but the background doesn’t fit well for me, leaving the other details to itself. If I saw this as the first draft of a shirt design, I would be very excited about what the final idea might like, but it just doesn’t seem like a complete and finished concept. Supports for trying and going with a theme. – Serie B-
5. Indiana Pacers
I feel like I’ve already reviewed their shirt, but I’m just thinking about the new look for Heat. The Pacers had a fun video, a retro look well executed, they were bold without going crazy and the details are there. I love any outline of a state outline on a shirt, so I loved that addition to this look. – Grade B +
6. Philadelphia 76ers
Minimalism is on the rise, but that does not mean that everything should be so simple. The letters and logo look like two different looks, the Liberty Bell without a contour or design besides the marine color seems like a lost opportunity, the white and the cream combine in the way they incorporated the numbers and the whole design looks confusing. The fans asked for many elements of the old shirts back and they didn’t get anything they wanted with that look. – Note: C +
7. Toronto Raptors
I love the fact that the colors are inspired by OGs, I’m all about it, but if you want to go with this, go to the end. This shirt looks like two different uniforms, one when you look at the front and the other from behind. I love the use of purple, but bringing the dinosaur back would have seemed more pleasing to the public in my opinion. Missed opportunities in many ways. – Note: D +
8. Orlando Magic
The logo is big, but it works and the stars next to it could have gone terribly wrong, but they also work. Elsewhere the stars were at risk of looking childish and youthful, but the fun element is a fun feature and placed in a good place. The look is cohesive to the short and gives a nice overall look. –– Note: B +