NBA teams are continuing to unveil their Statement Edition uniforms for next season, and some of them are legitimately very good!
The league breaks its jerseys into five categories: Association (Home), Icon (Away), Classic (Throwback), City Edition (alternate jerseys by Nike), and Statement Edition (alternate jerseys by Jordan).
It’s exciting to see how teams decide to stray from their traditional uniforms when they release City Edition (check out all of the designs from last year) and Statement Edition uniforms. So we’re going to rank all of the Statement Edition uniforms that we’ve seen so far.
We’ll continue to update this post as more teams debut their looks.
9 Golden State Warriors
I wrote about these uniforms when they were first unveiled, and I’m just as confused about them now as I was then. Why did they make these look so much like a crossover event between UC Berkeley and Michigan? Was this just a weird favor for Jordan Poole?
8 Los Angeles Lakers
I grew up in Los Angeles, and this jersey looks a lot like unauthorized merchandise sold on the side of the road. The purple is bold to the point where it appears radioactive. The lettering and numbers feel inconsistent, clashing with each other.
7 Orlando Magic
These are totally passable, but if the goal is to make a statement, I’m not sure that the team accomplished its mission. These are relatively regular uniforms, but with added pinstripes. I’ll probably forget they existed in a few minutes.
6 Charlotte Hornets
Charlotte’s statement uniforms are fine. But let’s take a step back for a second. The league announced that Jordan Brand’s Jumpman logo would appear on all of the NBA’s Statement Edition uniforms. For the team that Michael Jordan literally owns, I’d expect them to go a little bit more all-out.
5 Minnesota Timberwolves
The Northern Lights, the natural light show in the sky that is also called the polar lights because of its close proximity to the North Pole near Alaska and Canada, have become more visible in Minnesota lately. These uniforms pay tribute to the aurora borealis. Neat!
4 Brooklyn Nets
I live in New York. The all-black look is very popular here. These are pretty clean and inoffensive. You could wear these on the street and get a fit off with this jersey. I like them a lot, and I think they’re a pretty massive improvement from the graffiti font the Nets have used in the past.
3 San Antonio Spurs
This is good stuff from the Spurs. I love the influence of the Mexican blankets. These look cozy, even though they’re a basketball uniform, and sports should reflect coziness more often.
2 Milwaukee Bucks
Milwaukee did a very good job with their Statement Edition uniforms. The horns on the side of the uniform rock. This is probably the best use of a team name we’ve seen, from a design perspective.
1 Detroit Pistons
These definitely top the leaderboard for me, and it’s not just because the backstory is hilarious — they were inspired by a voicemail that was left by a disgruntled fan. The stripes are legitimately beautiful. It reminds me a bit of a painting by Piet Mondrian.
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