The Brooklyn Nets became the latest team to reveal their special “City Edition” uniforms paying respect to a late great hip-hop legend.
The Brooklyn Nets organization started November with plenty of big announcements off the court. The new month began with a special event at JFK Airport in New York City as the Nets teamed up with JetBlue to unveil a branded plane, “BK Blue.”
Differing from JetBlue’s traditional blue paint scheme, the all black-and-white aircraft includes the Nets logo on the tail and the silhouette of the skyline of Brooklyn. The aircraft also features the phrase “Spread Love,” tagging the bottom of the plane.
During the Airbus A320 presentation, the Nets officially revealed their new 2018-19 City Edition Uniform with a fashion show. The event included appearances from Nets Legends, Albert King and Kerry Kittles, as well as Nets general manager Sean Marks and BSE Global CEO Brett Yormark.
The black uniform features a multi-color “Brooklyn Camo” pattern inspired by the late iconic hip-hop star, The Notorious B.I.G., which runs down the sides of the jersey & shorts, and along the neck and arm trim. The pattern represents the cultural diversity in Brooklyn, which is home to people of all races, religions and ethnicities.
The @BrooklynNets also unveiled their signature #NBA “City Edition” uniforms #SpreadLove #WeGoHard pic.twitter.com/T3NDelJn8y
— Ed Easton Jr. (@EdEastonJr) November 1, 2018
The Nets also visited the Christopher Wallace Courts in Bed-Stuy, where players D’Angelo Russell and Rodions Kurucs ran a hoops clinic and distributed basketballs to kids from the neighborhood. Hoops Habit was on hand to speak with Russell about the new uniforms and their Notorious B.I.G theme.
"“I think it was very creative how decided to correspond and use that as a signature jersey representing Brooklyn,” he said. “It’s great this is his park we still got Brooklyn on the front of our jersey so we represent Brooklyn as well. Just to come out here and visit these communities is definitely an honor to see the smiles on these kids faces just that little time we take out of our day to be here, these kids are over here working their tales off and they got dreams that can come true as well.”"
https://twitter.com/BrooklynNets/status/1058096038576308225
The Nets paying homage to the late great Brooklyn rapper is nothing new as the team held a special “Biggie Night” back in early 2017 to acknowledge the 20th anniversary of his death. Yormark spoke with ESPN then about the cultural impact of Wallace’s legacy in the borough.
"“We infuse Brooklyn wherever possible, The architecture of the building speaks to the borough — 85 percent of our employees are from Brooklyn. When you think of the music we play, we obviously play tribute to artists who have made Brooklyn a home or are from Brooklyn, starting with Jay Z, Biggie and many others. It has become part of our DNA.”"
In the coming weeks, the Nets will announce additional community activations in support of the City Edition platform. The Nets will debut the jerseys on the court on Nov. 17 in a matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers at Barclays Center, and will wear them for a total of 16 games.