There will not be any sleeves this time. Nor will there be any strange two-toned or multi-colored jerseys when the NBA All Stars hit the floor at Madison Square Garden in February.
The jerseys the All Stars will wear are surprisingly plain considering all the experimentation the NBA has gone through with jerseys during All-Star Games and during the regular season (again, thank goodness there are no sleeves this time).
“The NBA All-Star Game is a celebration of the host city and basketball culture, and this year we created our most detailed and sophisticated uniforms to date that pay homage to New York and All-Star weekend,” said Chris Grancio, adidas global basketball general manager, in a press release. “We took inspiration from all five boroughs, in addition to the rich basketball and cultural heritage of the city, to provide a memorable collection for players and fans.”
That inspiration must be pretty plain. The reference to the five boroughs pertains to a star design on the All-Star badge on the uniforms representing each section of New York.
adidas is advertising these jerseys as clean and timeless to celebrate the game’s roots in New York. But they just come off as plain. The white jersey looks like it came straight out of Space Jam.
This looks almost exactly like what Michael Jordan wore when he defeated the Monstars and saved the Looney Tunes from servitude on Moron Mountain.
This is not like the plain uniforms worn in the mid-2000s that were something of a callback to previous All-Star uniforms or the loud uniforms worn in recent games. But this just feels overly plain. And those numbers are so huge.
It feels like an uninspired design.
The jerseys are not going to be remembered at all. They are too different to be considered a timeless design like the 1988 All-Star uniforms and not tacky or cartoonish enough to be considered memorable at all like the 1995 All-Star uniforms. It feels like the NBA could have done a lot better considering they are making their return to New York for the All-Star Game. Then again, the last time the All-Star Game was held in the Big Apple, players just wore their team uniforms and we were treated to an overweight Shawn Kemp in the blue streak Cavs uniform.
Hey, it could have been the 2008 All-Star monstrosities, so the NBA gets a C+ for the effort.
