NBA All-Star jerseys have leaked


NBA All-Star Weekend is just a fortnight and a half away, and all of the puzzle pieces are beginning to be put together. The starters from each Conference were announced last week (praise be to Kyrie Irving), and the remaining roster spots were revealed last night (yes, Al Horford did deserve the nomination).

Another component of the entertaining weekend recently came into view as well. The jerseys have been leaked! The key word here being leaked. These images aren't officially from the NBA. Instead, staffers from various stores that carry NBA apparel have taken the unveiling into their own hands. They've graciously breached their employment contracts to give us a pre-glimpse of what will be worn on the court on February 18th at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.  


It does, however, seem that the black and white unis have been confirmed as legitimate:

 Q: Will the players wear uniforms that say "Team LeBron" or "Team Stephen"?

 A: No, they will wear special All-Star uniforms with their team logo on them. One team will wear white, while the other team will wear black.

These jerseys are mediocre. I don't love them, don't hate them. I just think that they're okay. The NBA has taken one step in the right direction, and one in the wrong one. Let's talk about the good news before the bad:

The NBA has parted ways from the East vs. West format. Instead of having the top dogs from the Eastern Conference battle against the best from the Western Conference, they've decided to have the two top vote-getters be old school, schoolyard captains for their squads. They will draft their teams, being able to choose players from either side of the country.

The two captains will be LeBron James from the East, and Steph Curry from the West, and the results of the draft will be released tomorrow night. Unfortunately, the draft won't be televised. Commissioner Adam Silver commented on this, saying that he doesn't want to put any of the players in a "compromising position."

Anyways, because the game won't be the East versus the West, the league has obviously taken those titles off of the jerseys. Instead, the uniforms will have each players' respective team logo on the front.

This is a win in my opinion. The jerseys distinguishing the conferences on the front were always kind of lame. Even when great Celtics' players like Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett made the honorable squad, I was never interested in getting one of their All-Star jerseys.


And that's saying something! Because when those guys were at the top of their class, I was in middle school, when gangster rap and basketball jerseys were the hippest fad. And the coolest jerseys were the ones that no other kid had. I even bought a disgusting, bright orange, Charlotte Bobcats, Emeka Okafor jersey one of those years. Not my most graceful phase of life.

The team's logo on the front makes these jerseys unique to their homes. Now, it's just a special Celtics' jersey that you can wear to a game. It's affiliated with the actual Boston Celtics, which is who I'm a fan of.

The NBA had a spectacular few years where they just used each players' respective home and away jerseys for the game. The East would wear dark, away jerseys and the West would wear white, home jersey, or vice versa. It was a happier, simpler time back then. Now, the jerseys are just another way for the league to profit off of merchandise sales. The change gets a hard 'BOOOOOO' from me.

The only bad thing that I have to say about these jerseys is the black and white coloring. Scratch that, they're not even colors. Black and white are technically shades. Black literally absorbs all color from the universe and hides it from us in its dark depths on nothingness. White may be even worse. It's the absence of all colors. Period. Two asshole 'colors' if you ask me.

Oh yeah, I'm also not a fan of the players' names being under the number on the back of their jerseys. Why change things like that? Just keep it simple. The original jersey schematics were fine as they were. Heck, the retro jerseys are easily the coolest of all time, across the entire league. Enough with these modifications. We fear change.



So, the NBA has has sort of stalemated itself. Good on the logos. Bad on the colors.

More on the All-Star game is sure to come within the next few days here on Celticslife.com. The teams will be announced tomorrow night, which has plenty of drama surrounding it, particularly in regards to a potential LeBron James-Kyrie Irving reunion. It should be fun.

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Photo 1: Bacon Sports
Photo 2: NBA
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