The Washington Wizards have unveiled a new “Statement” Edition uniform. For those not familiar with NBA vernacular, the “Icon” and “Association” uniforms are considered the light/dark uniforms, while the Statement uniform is an alternate. Teams also receive “City” and “Earned” editions. The new uniform is replacing the current Statement alternate.
As is par for the course with uniform unveilings nowadays, the team released a hype video for the new uniform:
A Statement for The District. 🏛️
Introducing our 2024-25 Statement Edition Uniform. pic.twitter.com/FUsS5Qs9JS
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) June 21, 2024
Here are some stills:
The new uniform is blue, with a stars and stripes pattern taken from the DC flag, with three red stars atop two thick red stripes.
The front of the jersey contains the words “THE district” in white lettering on the top red stripe, with “OF COLUMBIA” in a smaller font on the blue base. Numbers are in white outlined in blue.
Pants are blue, with the right side of the shorts using the same flag-pattern of three stars over two stripes. The left side of the pants has the Wizards logo.
“WASHINGTON” appears in a white italic font on the waistband of the shorts.
Unfortunately, neither the hype video nor any photos have shown the back of the jersey, but from the side angles, we can see that the red stripes on the chest do not wrap around to the back. We can infer the back is solid blue, and will have white numbers and NOB.
The team also provided some alternate looks at the jersey (and one can almost make out the back in the graphic below). Of course, these images also have the storytelling aspect. If you click to enlarge, you can read a bit more about the thought behind the design.
The NBA has so many uniforms, it’s hard to keep track of them all, but as a uniform, I actually like this one. I don’t think many teams should lean into flag-based imagery as a uniform element, but it totally works here. I actually prefer this new one to their previous Statement uniform, which featured a red yoke-ish element and white/red/white striping down the jersey sides and on the pants, which ended with a wide white flare pattern as it reached the shorts hem. That look seemed a bit too busy for my tastes.
Readers? What do you think of the new uniform?
Call me crazy but what if they took all the wording off and just put the number front and center. Everyone would know that it is DC just by the stars and lines. Put their logo on the shorts and boom DC BOLD they could call it
I was gonna chime in and say they should ditch the “of Columbia” but I dig your idea to ditch all the text on the front and really lean into the flag. IFYKYK
Nah, the “of Columbia” works. As a local, trust me.
I don’t hate the text as text, including “of Columbia,” but I agree with the general principle: The whole point of a flag is to symbolize a place. So putting both the flag and the name of the place on the jersey front is redundant, and thus bad design.
I am not sure the redundancy automatically means bad design. I love the symbolism of the flag, but what percentage of the population knows the DC FLAG.
For me, the issue is this is too busy. I like all the elements on their own, but together might be too much. I would like to see how they look on the court.
You’re not crazy. I don’t know that I personally would recognize the flag but it’d definitely read as a washington jersey even for someone who doesn’t know the flag that well. I for one can’t stand the cheapo looking half bullets font they use. Also THE district OF COLUMBIA. Ick. I have no desire for them to return to their original wizards days, but they can establish a better revised graphics package than their lame wordmark. I liked the magical washington monument star basketball logo as a secondary and I like the bold horizontal striping and stars of the flag being the base of the uni, but ditch the self referential wordmark styling. Also ditch the flag pattern on the shorts as well. It’s a very bold visual. It doesn’t need to be repeated.
It’s a good uniform, and I like it. Feels a bit like a City Edition, but a good one. The DC flag is beautiful and deserves more attention.
Also, will there be a post sometime about the new LA Kings logo?
“will there be a post sometime about the new LA Kings logo”
Probably not a special separate post as the team will be unveiing new uniforms next week, and I’ll be including that in the p/review.
“Statement?” If the 15-67 Wizards should issue anything, it’s an apology!
(Uniform’s not bad though.)
Yes! I had the same thought.
I don’t know how much this comes into play for Nike/Jumpman, but the previous version of the Wizards’ statement unis would be legal high school uniforms and the current set would not (loosely, can’t have multiple background colors in the number area of the jersey). Don’t know if Nike does any marketing of these style to high schools.
The Wiz just need to change their name. They’ve gone so far away from the Merlin-esque look when they dumped the name Bullets. Time for another team name change.
Cannonballs.
How about Basketball Team
Not sure they can honestly claim to be a basketball team.
Fans have been asking for a return to “Bullets” (the basis of all these uniforms since 2011) or something that’s not an alliteration aimed at tweens for years. That ship has sailed.
You can’t call this team “the Wiz.” Back in the 80s and 90s, The Wiz was a New York-based chain of record stores that had locations in DC. Their slogan – and later, their “full” name was – “Nobody Beats the Wiz.”
So yeah, you can’t call DC’s NBA team “the Wiz.”
You can call them the ‘Zards
Washington Generals
I still call ’em the Bullets.
Really would prefer the stripes to go all the way around. We need more teams with stripes like the Canadiens and fewer like the Panthers
The standard white/red had a wraparound strip when originally introduced, it was removed after a couple of years for legibility reasons.
link
Might have said this was perfect if they left off “of Columbia”. Just having The District with the 3 stars and the Washington Monument as part of the D feels right on point. Wouldn’t complain at all if they went with something like this as a permanent look.
I could see this as a new template for the white/red unis, but they maintain too many design elements (number font, wordmark) to signal an upcoming change.
As one of maybe 231 people that’s actually a diehard Wizards fan, this is a massive upgrade. Fans have wanted a flag based design for years and the team’s dibbled and dabbled with stars here and there, but this… this is great. It’s a colossal upgrade over the very busy (and outdated) statement uni that it replaces.
Also: it’s rid of the final vestiges of silver that was eliminated from the red/white unis after Nike took over. Minor ding for repeating the flag on the shorts, that seems redundant and lessens the effect up top. Bonus points for using a DC-based artist for the rollout. Nothing pisses me off more than teams doing hype videos with music from artists that don’t live anywhere close.
The Wizards have long focused on federal imagery (marble columns, cherry blossoms, stars & stripes) for their alternate unis. This is the first time the seem to really be focusing on actual DC.
GRADE: A-
I like it, not far off from something I mocked up years ago (and was linked from UW), except went red, not blue
link
One wonders if they would have done this uniform if the move to Alexandria had been approved
I think the uni is okay, but the marketing speak is tragic. I don’t feel any connection to Ben’s Chili Bowl coming from this set.
YAY!!!!!!!!!! Another “The …………” uniform. That’s original Nike.
Agree. But at least it’s not as silly as “The Land.”
This works for me as a shout-out to the Elvin Hayes-era uniforms, and those were one of many flag-based looks from the ’70s. The stripes didn’t go around on those jerseys either.
Man, has there ever been a more anonymous group of players in a pro team’s uniform reveal? I consider myself a knowledgeable NBA fan & the only player I recognized was Johnny Davis, who’s appeared in 78 career games…
They likely just used who was in town. The only one of those guys who’ll be here long term is Vuckcevic.
Refreshing twist on the horizontal stripe component used on wizard/bullet uniforms. Gets an A+ for one of my biggest pet peeves of current uniform design trends: on court name and number visibility. Using the red accents on the navy blue background makes for a very visible background graphic that the white really pops off of. Great recipe for other teams to take a hint from.
Agree with ditching the bullets name, Wizards just ain’t the best answer…the anonymity of the current roster makes this a great time for a potential rebrand?
Good job Washington!!! Biggest win of the season!
Should also add…gotta say when I saw the lede for this story on the Posts, I thought “oh…my…god…” after last year’s “architectural disaster” of a uniform. HUGE sigh of relief when I clicked the story open…
Actually, I love the jersey, but hate the shorts. Go full dark blue with the shorts, drop the stripes — especially the one-legged thing. But the jersey is really sharp
This is Uni uniform is fantastic. Best ever wizards uniform in my opinion.
Should have gone with white, not blue, as a base color and really lean into the flag motif but still a great, iconic uniform for a team in desperate need of one.
“Should have gone with white, not blue, as a base color and really lean into the flag motif but still a great, iconic uniform for a team in desperate need of one.”
Yeah. but if they do that, then they need to change the entire set to reflect this look. That’s definitely necessary for the main home look honestly. Though, I would change the shorts to look like updated version of the Unseld Era shorts on one side. But yes, lean into the Stars and Bars