The Memphis Grizzlies unveiled their City Edition Nike jerseys in mid-December but have yet to wear them on the hardwood for an NBA game. That’s because their MLK50 jerseys will be worn for the first time on Jan. 15 to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Grizzlies will wear Martin Luther King Jr. inspired jerseys for MLK Day
There’s much, much more to Memphis’ MLK50 City Edition jerseys than meets the eye.
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These jerseys are pretty fire
And it’s not just the design that’s heating them up. The ‘MLK50’ moniker commemorates the 50th anniversary of King’s assassination. The underlined “Memphis” wordmark is a salute to the “I Am A Man” signs used during the 1968 Memphis sanitation strike and protests:
The design on the side panel of the shorts forms an ‘M’ in a similar font to the wordmark, a double homage to both the sanitation strike signs and the city of Memphis itself:
And the subtle use of a light blue — or Beale Blue — color found both in the collar and the waistband is a nod to the Clayborn Temple near Beale Street in Memphis. Clayborn Temple was the starting place for many of those 1968 marches and is where “I Am a Man” Plaza will open in April:
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The Grizzlies will debut their Nike City Edition jerseys on Martin Luther King Day in their 5:30 p.m. ET matchup against the Los Angeles Lakers. And even if you’re not a fan of either of these teams, it’s worth tuning in just to see the MLK50 jersey on the court for the first time.
