NBA Uniform Refresh: Western Conference
Good morning, Uni Watchers. A Happy Hump Day to one and all.
Last Friday, I introduced you to long-time reader Alonso Perez, who has created an entire NBA uniform refresh series. In that article, we looked at Alonso’s concepts for the NBA Eastern Conference. Today, Alonso returns with the Western Conference.
In case you didn’t click on the link above (or simply want a refresher), I’ll include Alonso’s introduction to the refresh project and then we’ll check out the West.
What the NBA needs is a jersey refresh. I implemented a fairly strict team colorway across the jerseys of every team. I went with a new manufacturer, Under Armour, to move on from the excesses of late Nike and Adidas. Drawing from Under Armour’s excellent work in the college game, I went for clean, straight lines and bold color, rather than the intricate detailing and swooping lines increasingly seen on NBA jerseys.
I want these jerseys to feel new but nostalgic. I tried to make each jersey in each set something I can imagine a fan being excited to buy. Not all the sets are fully uniform, but they are unified by shared colors and design language.
Each team gets 4 jerseys; a home jersey (white), an away jersey (dark), a home alternate (white or light), and an away alternate (dark). The home and away jerseys would be worn upwards of 75% of the time, about 30 games a season each, with the alternates each being worn about 10 games. For each team, one of the two alternates is a ‘Retro Refresh’, a classic design from the team’s history updated with the new color scheme.
Big shoutout to the NBA Jersey Database and Chris Creamer’s Sportslogos.Net. I borrowed heavily from their work. All logos are either from the NBA teams’ archive, or are my own design. The template is my own as well.
By Alonso Perez
Hey y’all, thanks for all the comments on my first post! Really appreciate the positives, and the constructive feedback. It means more than you know. While the East was pretty traditional, the West is where things start to get more wild. Let’s get into it.
(Listed by seed)
1. Oklahoma City Thunder
The Thunder have a lot of good ingredients for an identity, but they aren’t cooking yet. I started with a new abstract logo, with a layout inspired by the shield on the state flag. The home and away jerseys get a major redesign, with bold trim that recalls both their name and the geometric patterns of indigenous art. The execution was inspired by this LA Galaxy jersey. The away alternate is a little bit more subdued, but still features lightning flashes on the shorts. The home alternate is maybe my favorite Retro Refresh in this whole series. It recalls the Oklahoma City Cavalry, a minor league team from the ’90s, whose name copied the Cavs and whose jerseys mainly plagiarized the Pacers. However, something about their look just comes to life in Thunder colors.
It all starts with the dunking astronaut, maybe the best thing to come out of the City Connect program. The home and away jerseys get an angled, NASA-esque font, and gradient trim that references their ’90s look. The alternates really lean into the Rockets’ ketchup and mustard heritage, and add some barbecue sauce to the mix.
It’s interesting- the classic Lakers jersey, exactly as you imagine it, has never really existed. The ’80s and ’90s had weirdly angled text and mismatched shorts, the Kobe era went too Y2K with massive side panels and a wishbone collar, the current set bungles the striping and adds too much black. This is my attempt to create their classic look. The trim on the home and away gets an update, and a simple new shorts logo is added. The home Retro Refresh brings the purple and gold to the first set they wore in LA, with a cameo from their mythical giraffe logo on the waist. The away alternate updates the iconic but never-worn jersey from Kobe’s 2003 SLAM cover.
I built from the current, title-winning look, which I think can become iconic in time. I brought in a ‘new’ font from their ’70s sets, with numbers to match. The red accents don’t add too much, so they’re gone here. The home alternate is a bit bolder. Something about their logo really works on the front of a jersey, and their deranged ’70s miner is a fun occasional addition to their identity on the shorts. The away alternate is a wintry take on their rainbow skyline look from the ’80s.
Back in middle school, seeing Blake Griffin dunk over that car felt like the moon landing. The Clippers’ red jersey with the script logo is iconic to me, no matter the lack of wins, no matter that they now wear navy, no matter how many people here probably wanna see sky blue and orange. So that’s what I went with. The home, away, and alternate have striping inspired by the ’80s and ’90s, with the excellent scripts from their latest rebrand. Their new logo is simplified to include just a compass, with the southwest highlighted in red. The home alternate is a sky blue take on the first jerseys they wore in LA.
It’s a tragedy that a team as exciting as the Timberwolves has to take the court dressed like your friend who just got into running. The home and away bring back the iconic tree trim, with a wordmark and numbers that bring some of the angles and unpredictability of the ’90s fonts with a bit more legibility. The away alternate is a favorite of mine – it is their first true green jersey, but feels familiar due to a script adapted from a detail on their ’80s logo. Their home alternate renders their first look in wolf gray.
The Warriors have built a dynasty wearing a really unique, colorful set. The home and away get some minimal cleanups on the striping. The home alt in gold is a more subtle take on their core look. The away alternate harkens back to their struggle era in the late ’90s, updated with their current colors for the trim.
The Grizzlies always seem to wear their light blue alts in their big games anyway, so I made that their full-time away set, and made their blue a bit more vibrant. The home jersey is an updated version of their ‘Grit and Grind’ era look, while the away and away alternate build on their clever ‘MEM’ trim pattern. The home alternate is a Retro Refresh, swapping out their early 2000s colors for the double blue and gold, but keeping the awesome swiping grizzly bear logo on the shorts.
I replaced the drab grey in the Kings’ color scheme with a gold that brings warmth and regality. The home gets more intricate striping, while the away has bolder stripes that let the color scheme pop more. The away alternate is a purple take on their home jersey. The home alternate brings back a forgotten 2000s alternate. I loved using this jersey in NBA2K, so even though it’s a little ugly, I brought it back with a color scheme update.
While the Mavericks wear deeply dated Y2K jerseys, their color scheme, which mirrors the Cowboys, is worth keeping (especially if the Timberwolves reclaim royal and green). I made a simple new logo for them, and redrew wordmarks inspired by their ’80s look. The home, away, and home alternate are pretty classic. I went a bit rogue with their away alternate, which is inspired by the Dallas flag. It’s out there, but recently the Mavericks have shown that they aren’t afraid to make an unconventional choice.
Like the Suns’ current jerseys, I was heavily inspired by their ’90s set. While their current set took the flaming ball across the chest, but left behind the gradients, fonts, and black, I take the exact opposite direction. For me, the gradient orange and black of that era perfectly evoked an Arizona sunset, and the blocky rounded text was fun and unique. In the end, you don’t even need the flaming basketball. The home alternate goes even further with the gradients. The away alternate is a Retro Refresh, rendering their classic ’70s look in black.
The ’70s Trail Blazers logo is a sports design classic, and I’m surprised that the font from that logo never made it onto their jerseys. That font is the basis of the wordmark and numbers that enliven their classic home, away, and away alternate looks. The home alternate is a cream take on their early ’70s look.
The Spurs have chipped away a bit at one of the best looks in the NBA. Here the home and away return to their ’90s wordmarks and numbering, while their shorts get new Alamo-inspired striping. The alternates stay pretty simple, which just feels right for the Spurs.
I have a deep affinity for the Pelicans, born from 2 visits to New Orleans, summers watching pelicans glide over the beach in Costa Rica, and that brief moment when it seemed like Zion Williamson would take over the world. I like their wordmarks, and I like their colors – I prefer them to the garish purple, gold, and green of Canal Street. The home jersey highlights the city flag at the waistband and stays classic, while the away is now a more dynamic red, with wrought-iron detailing in gold on the shorts. That is flipped in navy for the away alternate, while the home alternate is a retconned gold version of their Chris Paul look, from the days when they were still the Hornets.
When I lived in Utah I spent many afternoons watching the setting sun turn the mountains purple, so I’m glad that the Jazz’s real-life rebrand is going in that direction. I tried a different, more timeless take here, partly inspired by Slovenian soccer jerseys. The home alternate is a unique lavender look which brings back their classic wordmark. The away alternate is a Retro Refresh of their early 2000s alt, now in purple and sky blue.
Readers? What say you?
Guess the Game from the Scoreboard
Guess The Game…
…From The Scoreboard
Today’s scoreboard comes from ojai67.
The premise of the game (GTGFTS) is simple: I’ll post a scoreboard and you guys simply identify the game depicted. In the past, I don’t know if I’ve ever completely stumped you (some are easier than others).
Here’s the Scoreboard. In the comments below, try to identify the game (date and location, as well as final score). If anything noteworthy occurred during the game, please add that in (and if you were AT the game, well bonus points for you!):
Please continue sending these in! You’re welcome to send me any scoreboard photos (with answers please), and I’ll keep running them.
Guess the Game from the Uniform
Based on the suggestion of long-time reader/contributor Jimmy Corcoran, we’ve introduced a new “game” on Uni Watch, which is similar to the popular “Guess the Game from the Scoreboard” (GTGFTS), only this one asked readers to identify the game based on the uniforms worn by teams.
Like GTGFTS, readers will be asked to guess the date, location and final score of the game from the clues provided in the photo. Sometimes the game should be somewhat easy to ascertain, while in other instances, it might be quite difficult. There will usually be a visual clue (something odd or unique to one or both of the uniforms) that will make a positive identification of one and only one game possible. Other times, there may be something significant about the game in question, like the last time a particular uniform was ever worn (one of Jimmy’s original suggestions). It’s up to YOU to figure out the game and date.
Today’s GTGFTU comes from Brandon Winker.
Good luck and please post your guess/answer in the comments below.
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