Los Angeles Lakers to honor Elgin Baylor with new uniforms

The Los Angeles Lakers are honoring Elgin Baylor with their new uniforms.

All 30 NBA teams released their City Edition jerseys for the 2020-21 season on Thursday, and while the Los Angeles Lakers are known for donning the purple and gold, they went in a different yet familiar direction this year.

While the baby blue colors may not be familiar to the younger generation of Lakers fans, this years City Edition uniforms for the Lakers pay tribute to Elgin Baylor and the franchise’s early beginnings.

While the “Lakers” font is as recognizable as ever, the light blue lettering pays homage to the team’s early years when Baylor was one of the NBA’s brightest stars:

The new Lakers jerseys are a gorgeous tribute to Elgin Baylor

Elgin is widely known as one of the greatest NBA players of all time to never win a championship ring, but make no mistake about it: He’s still one of the best players to ever play in the league, and this is a beautiful, aesthetically pleasing tribute to the Lakers legend.

Holding career averages of 27.4 points, 13.5 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game, Baylor was an absolute force to be reckoned with on the court. He was selected as an All-Star in 11 of his 14 seasons from 1958-71, earning a spot on 10 All-NBA First Teams and appearing in eight NBA Finals. Unfortunately, thanks to the rival Boston Celtics, he never could quite get over the hump, and the year he retired, the Lakers finally broke through and won it all.

Even so, Baylor joins Jerry West as the Lakers’ greatest pillars in their early years, and with such a cool, unique color scheme, these jerseys are sure to be loved by LA fans … just as long as the team never wears them in the Finals.