You know how one of the main complaints about NBA basketball is that you see way too much scandalous shoulder skin on the court? (Trust me, it’s a huge problem.) Well, worry no longer because the Warriors are stepping their sleeve game up, as they’ll soon become the first modern NBA team to wear a sleeved jersey. Or to put it in fashion terms, sleeves are back!
From the Mercury News:
On Monday, the Warriors will unveil their yellow, alternate uniforms. They will be the first team in the modern NBA era to play in something other than a tank top.
The Warriors will debut the new unis for their Feb. 22 home game against the San Antonio Spurs, which is being aired on ESPN. They will also wear them March 8 vs. Houston and March 15 vs. Chicago.
No offense to the Warriors or adidas, but nope. Just like the last time someone tried to pull off a super-tight jersey, this gets a big, fat nope. They look fine but it’s just weird.
Of course, as you might imagine, a huge part of this remix is because fans like sleeves on their shirts. And surprise surprise, you can buy these.
“It was the right moment, the right team,” said Lawrence Norman, Adidas’ vice president of global basketball. “Even more important, the right city. When you launch something as innovative as this — that will change the way the players look on the court and the way the fans support the team forever — why not launch it in the most innovative part of the United States?”
The new jersey is much less a T-shirt than the next phase in the evolution of basketball apparel.
This jersey was designed with the fan in mind.
The rationale is having a full shirt as the team’s jersey allows people to represent their team in more settings. Unlike soccer, baseball and football, basketball uniforms are limited.
Even though Warriors president Rick Welts literally says, “We didn’t do this for the sales,” you kind of half to assume that a large part of it has to do with the sales since that’s often the case with alternate jerseys. I don’t know that people are going to be lining up to wear compression shirts, but a more t-shirt-y uniform does seem like something that could appeal to fans. Yeah, those fans can just buy jersey t-shirts like a normal person but at least they have options.
The worst part, however, is that this isn’t just a normal alternate for the Warriors because an all-gold look would be wicked. Any time they wear their throwbacks, people love them, so adding a gold kit is a really good idea. Unfortunately, they had to go and put sleeves on them, which is going to seriously make Stephen Curry look like he’s back in high school. Also, the shorts have pinstripes on them and the shirts don’t, which is awkward and could really make it look like all the Warriors are just wearing t-shirts tucked in to shorts.
So yeah, we’ve got NBA sleeves now. It feels weird to type that, but maybe they’ll catch on. I doubt it but I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Yes, really.
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