The wait is officially over. We finally know when the Blazers will unveil their highly-anticipated Nike NBA jerseys.
For a while, artist concepts were the only things Blazers fans could cling to for the upcoming Nike NBA jersey unveil.
We did a write-up on Brian Begley’s eye-catching concepts in June. And, Conrad Burry of SportsLogos.Net just released his own take Thursday:
https://twitter.com/conradburry/status/890687109299941376
But now, we have official word from the Blazers on when (and where) the new Nike NBA jerseys will be released, per beat reporter Casey Holdahl:
“Association” and “Icon” mean the home and away jerseys we’re used to, but have gotten name changes with Nike taking over.
That’s not the only change Nike is issuing in, either.
Nike released a statement on how much they’ve put into the jerseys; the statement even included testimonials from Draymond Green and Kyrie Irving.
Everything from recycled plastic bottles to adjusted necklines are now included in Nike’s take on NBA kits.
Additionally, ad sponsors will be another change for NBA fans to watch next season.
The list of teams inviting sponsors to have a patch on their jerseys is only growing. First, the 76ers agreed with StubHub on a deal, and soon teams like the Kings, Celtics and T’Wolves all followed suit.
Companies from Blue Almond Diamonds to GE to even Disney will be donned on the new Nike NBA jerseys.
This will be sudden departure to the Adidas fits. Sure, jerseys at All-Star Weekend festivities had sponsors on them, like Foot Locker, but that was for silly competitions.
The fact that a green GE logo may be on a jersey in the Finals next season is interesting.
Presumably, we’ll know the sponsor the Blazers will go with (if they go with one) for the 2017-18 season when the jerseys are unveiled at the Rip City 3-on-3 contest.
Next: The impact on the Blazers from Allen Crabbe trade
Jason Quick noted earlier that the Blazers were in talks with several sponsors. We’ll see if they actually go ahead with one on Saturday.
Get ready Blazers fans, we’ll finally see what Damian Lillard and co. will be rocking next season. The OregonLive.com Blazers blog on Twitter said Burry’s attempt was “very close,” so you may want to get familiar with his rendition.