Magic add sleeved jerseys, Warriors add more

Sleeved NBA jerseys are here to stay. Love’em or hate’em, the NBA has made it quite clear they don’t plan on abandoning sleeved jerseys any time soon. Unfortunately, they still haven’t figured out the real reason nobody likes the jerseys is not because of the sleeves, but because they have horrible designs.

Yes there are some good ones. The Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, and Minnesota Timberwolves all have some of the better sleeved jerseys in the NBA. But the rest out there seem to be hit and miss. Some are okay, others are just bad. Today, the Orlando Magic announced their own sleeved jerseys.

As a Magic fan…I Have many thoughts on this. First, these might be the worst non christmas day sleeved jerseys yet. They’re ugly, horrid, and the colors don’t match at all. Second, they don’t even fit the Magic’s color scheme. Orlando has always worn a Blue, White, and Black combination of colors. This gray/silver coloring has never been part of their jersey collection, and doesn’t fit their history of great jerseys. These are an abomination, and I hate everything about it.

Joining the Magic were the Warriors, announcing another sleeved jersey to their arsenal.

Just what we needed, ANOTHER black jersey. These aren’t bad, but they definitely aren’t good. I’m not a fan. Mainly just because they’re boring. Black and white with the only bit of actual color coming from they yellow collar, and blue lines on the side. Not horrible, but far from good.

I don’t hate sleeved jerseys like many NBA fans do. I think they have a place in the NBA, but are being handled in the worst way possible. For starters, the bad ones rarely match the current scheme of the team, and that’s where it starts to go wrong. In an effort to be unique, designers try too hard and get away from what makes the current designs work.

The NBA also forces entire teams to wear the sleeved jerseys a few times per year. Leading players that hate the sleeves to bash them. But there are players out there that like the sleeves. If the NBA and designers to instead change the jersey style to look more like their day to day jerseys, and make the sleeves optional, I think it would go better with players and fans. The designs would be something we already know, and the change wouldn’t feel as forced.

Of course, the NBA just recently added these jerseys, so there are still lots of growing pains. I’m confident a league that has always had great jersey designs will be able to figure this out.