Nike and the NBA unveiled Thursday that eight of the league’s oldest franchises will wear new “Specter” uniforms this season, according to Anthony Gharib of ESPN.com. The Knicks, Celtics, Lakers, 76ers, Warriors, Pistons, Hawks and Kings are the teams receiving the new threads. The uniforms include “details inspired by each franchise’s history, city heritage and fan culture” They were “created specifically for squads with roots dating back to the league’s earliest years.” The Specter uniform announcement came in conjunction with a “new standard issue collection being unveiled with hoodies, pants, T-shirts and shorts” (ESPN.com, 9/10).
DIFFERENT APPROACH: FOOTWEAR NEWS’ Ian Servantes noted the collection “proposes an alternative to displaying allegiance to one of the league’s 30 teams while pairing an aesthetic driven by insights from young consumers with some of Nike’s newest product innovations.” Oversize logos are “printed with a spray-paint effect on items including Aero-Fit T-shirts and double-knit DriFit hoodies that feel exactly the same inside and out.” By offering “more street-driven looks on performance materials, Nike wants to blur the historical lines between what may be worn at practice, shoot-around or on the way to the team bus.” Rollout for the products “will be spread across two drops” — on Tuesday and Oct. 12 — on Nike’s website (FOOTWEAR NEWS, 9/9).
WHAT IS THIS? SI’s Andy Nesbitt noted fans were “quick to mock the new duds because they are quite jarring upon first glance and grow even more confusing when you spend more time checking them out.” Nesbitt added they look “mostly hideous.” Most of them “look like they were washed with some other colored clothes that then bled into them.” Nesbitt gave grades to the looks: The Hawks get an F; the Celtics get an F; The Pistons get a D+; The Warriors “aren’t bad” but they “surely aren’t as bad as the other in the collection and get a B; the Lakers get a D-; The Knicks get a D-; 76ers get an F; and the Kings get an F (SI, 9/10).