The NBA is ditching traditional ‘home and away’ uniforms

Starting Oct. 1, Nike will be the new sporting apparel company for the NBA. And their first order of business will be ditching home and away uniforms, according to a press release from Nike.

Here’s a look at what the jerseys will look like. (via Nike)

Rather than labeling their home and away garbs traditionally, Nike is renaming them “Association edition” which would have been home colors and “Icon edition” which would have been away colors.

The home team will choose, from night to night, what colors they will wear. But now, light colors don’t mean you’re at home. Dark colors don’t mean you’re on the road. It’s all flexible.

Rather than being limited to specific jersey colors at home and on the road, teams will be able to pick from the selection of jerseys available to them.

Teams will have, at least, four jersey options to choose from in each game, according to a report from ESPN’s Nick DePaula. There will be eight other teams in the league with “classic” color ways. It’s unclear what The Athlete Mindset and The Community editions for each team will look like at this point.

Shortly after the league’s initial announcement, the Kings gave fans a sneak peak at their new jerseys. (via the Sacramento Kings)

Here is the “Association” look on Malachi Richardson.

And “Icon” jerseys on De’Aaron Fox.

In addition to introducing four jersey options for teams, Nike is also touting that all jerseys will be “lighter” and more “flexible” for players to move in throughout an 82-game season. The uniforms were made with recycled polyester from recycled bottles and “alpha yarns.” The uniforms are said to dry sweat 30-percent faster than current NBA uniforms because of the material.

The jerseys are a modification of what Team USA wore in the 2016 Olympic Games, according to a report from ESPN. The armholes on the jersey are a bit wider with more space and the collar is a different shape than previous models by Adidas.