Washington Wizards: Assessing the 2 new 2017-18 uniforms

Ahead of the 2017-18 NBA season, the Washington Wizards have revealed two of the uniforms they’ll be using.

Historically, the Washington Wizards have never been a team to wear incredibly flashy uniforms. Before they changed their jersey color schemes to red, white and blue, the team had an awkward combination of teal blue and gold.

One thing that most people can agree on is that the switch to red, white and blue colors was a much better look for the team representing the nation’s capital. But even after the color scheme change, the team kept its jerseys pretty simple. They never really consisted of any crazy colors or patterns other than simple alternating stripe colors along the upper torso.

Then everything changed in the 2016-17 NBA playoffs. The Washington Wizards busted out their stars and stripes uniforms and the fans loved them. They were clearly a subtle difference to the regular season jerseys that followed the same color scheme, they just didn’t have the same side parts of the jersey.

Many fans hoped that elements of these stars and stripes jerseys would creep their way into the team’s regular season rotation come the 2017-18 season, but from the evidence we have thus far, they have not. On Aug. 3, the Washington Wizards officially released images of two of their four overall jerseys:

The first thought is, what makes these jerseys so different from the previous year’s regular season jerseys? That’s a great question, because there isn’t one. The biggest difference might actually be the logo.

Nike recently signed an official exclusive deal with the NBA in which they will be manufacturing and working in conjunction with all 30 NBA teams in making their jerseys. Unfortunately, the Wizards opted to keep their first run with Nike incredibly tame, as these jerseys bring nothing too fun or special to the table.

However, even with the lack of intrigue at first glance, Nike released a incredibly dramatic and short statement about why these shades of colors were chosen for the Washington Wizards 2017-18 jerseys:

"“Association Edition (White):The Association Edition uniform pays homage to one of the most exclusive clubs in basketball. Every year approximately 400 players earn the right to put on the NBA uniform. The one thing that every team has in common is the white uniform that represents the association.”"

This felt like a long-formed way to say that the Wizards will be using a white-based uniform this year like every other team in the league. Nike took it in a very prestigious and historical route, but at the end of the day, it’s a long way of saying the team will continue to not mix it up.

"“Icon Edition (Red):The Icon Edition uniform represents each of the unique franchises. Each team has its own identity, one that separates them from the other 29 franchises in the league. This edition pays tribute to the iconic nature of each franchise in the league.”"

According to Nike, THIS was the jersey to make the Wizards stand out from all of the other teams in the league. Unfortunately, it feels like just a regular red jersey with not much character to it. While it may be true that no other team in the league shares this same exact shade of red, this statement still feels a bit vague considering how simple the uniform is.

Before Wizards fans panic that they will never see the stars and stripes jerseys again, let’s remember that there are two more jerseys coming from Nike. Hopefully, the next two jerseys will breathe some life into the repetitive and dull jerseys the Wizards have worn since changing color schemes in 2010.

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One thing to note is that Nike has promised these jerseys to be incredibly movable and breathable to maximize a players comfort on the court. There have been issues of players complaining in the past about certain jerseys, usually ones with sleeves. It’ll be interesting to see if Nike tries to mix it up or play it safe in its first of an eight-year deal with the NBA.