Over professional basketball’s extensive history it has changed along with society. The best way to track any society’s change is by eye. The NBA is no exception. The NBA has made numerous changes to improve its business. The most marketable of the NBA’s merchandise is their jerseys. From basketball’s early beginnings with button-crotch jerseys in the 1950s we are starting to see a new era with the NBA’s sleeved jerseys sponsored by Adidas.
Basketball players while in their youth would usually wear t-shirts under their jerseys to help support their uniform from hanging off. Well at least I know I did, with a big head and small body it’s hard to keep those jerseys from hanging off your shoulders. Wearing any sleeved shirt you are most likely limiting your range of motion. With the use of tank top jerseys the players are allowed to move their arms at free will. The question remains why the NBA would introduce the sleeved jerseys.
The sleeved hysteria began on February 22, 2013. This would be the day these new jerseys will be used on the court. Adidas linked up with Golden State Warriors to give the fans a little eye candy. These new uniforms were reported to be significantly lighter than the traditional while also offering 360 degree motion for the arms and shoulders. To compliment America’s new mindset to recycle Adidas made these jerseys out of sixty percent recycled material, a little something to please you eco-freaks. It also includes new technology which allows the jerseys to dry quicker. Less sweat, more comfort, better performance… theoretically. The all gold jerseys along with the golden court go perfectly with the new era of eye popping colors of today’s fashion.
After the Warriors positive reviews of the jerseys the NBA decided to continue this trend. For this season’s Christmas collection of games all the teams playing that day would be wearing the sleeved jerseys. Amongst the fans of our region we were not too fond of the new trend beginning to take place. Visually the jerseys were awful, in particular the New York Knicks orange uniform; looked like Melo was back playing at Syracuse. Replacing the traditional team name or city in the front there was the team logo taking up the majority of the front.
The NBA then took it a step too far. Recently there was a leak of the 2014 All-Star game’s jersey. Twitter exploded with firm disapproval of this year’s uniform. Even Miami Heat’s superstar took to twitter to express his distaste in the jerseys. Let’s just say these jerseys are despicable. This year the East will be wearing their traditional blue jersey only with a green accent this year. The West, a red jersey with a blue accent. Both include a fleur-de-lis in the front and name and number on the back. The color scheme of the uniforms is atrocious and should have never been a thought. I think the NBA would be better off allowing the player’s to wear their own team jersey like back in the early 2000s.