In case you missed it last week, there was a massive leak on social media of all 30 NBA “City Edition” jerseys for the upcoming NBA season.
Following that leak, the Washington Wizards pretty much acknowledged the leak as legitimate, and offered a bit of a peek at their new City jersey.
They weren’t the only ones.
The Denver Nuggets followed suit a couple of days later, following the script — sort of — laid down by the Wiz.
With the initial leak, we were only able to see the front of the jersey (and from only one angle):
While the Wizards actually showed an element on their jersey that hadn’t been seen in the initial leak (the right side panel of the jersey), the Nuggets basically confirmed the legitimacy of the leak, but didn’t really offer any new looks or information.
Reports might be true 👀 pic.twitter.com/lYewlsu66f
— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) September 19, 2024
Not especially helpful, other than to inform anyone who perhaps doubted the authenticity of the leaks that they were correct.
Since the initial leak, another photo has surfaced showing the back of the jersey:
As I’ve mentioned before, the NBA gave itself a tall order when it decided that every team would get a new City Edition every. single. year. Not only that, but the City Edition is supposed to “connect court, community and culture” for all 30 teams with regional references and styles. That may be easy enough for a couple years, but after multiple years of having to come up with a specific uniform to convey and connect court, community and culture, it’s clear many teams are running out of ideas.
Here’s a look at the previous Nuggets City Edition jerseys, and the new one on the right:
A couple of these are pretty good, but most of them are not — either they’re unoriginal, borrowing heavily from previous years, or just plain bad: most folks (including many Denver denizens and fans) are “sick and tired” of the “5280” appearing on uniforms (if you’re unaware, the number refers to 5,280 feet — a mile — above sea level. Denver is colloquially known as the “Mile High City”). They used it last year, and of course, they’re repeating it again this year.
(On a side note, I always thought putting a number that was not a jersey number on a uniform was verboten, or at least frowned upon…but apparently not.)
Anyway, the Nuggets have joined the Wiz in confirming the City Edition leaks were correct.
I guess we’ll find out soon enough how Nike/Denver spins the “new” 5280 jersey, once it’s officially released.
Can’t wait.
You forgot to add the *original* Nuggets city edition: link
It’s not a bad look, but many seem to forget that it existed
This uniform would be perfectly nice looking if the 5280 across the chest didn’t make the whole thing look like a marathon runners bib. I think Nike shoots themselves in the foot by categorizing these as “city” editions and putting them in a schedule. Some of the stuff they come up with would be great alternates that could last multiple years and some stuff could actually be the basis of a new uni design wardrobe altogether. But those designs are the minority when looked at with ALL the new unis they release. They should just go back to only releasing new unis when they’ve really nailed a great look that has to be seen on the court.
In a related note, this years pistons city should he the basis of a uni redesign. Just, you know, make it red and blue… because the pistons aren’t a black and orange team. I know the bad boys skull logo is black and white with an orange basketball, but come on. That’s using it so literally that it becomes entirely invalid in the new application.
Other than it being really ugly and stupid, why wouldn’t a non-player number be allowed on the jersey? I don’t think anyone involved in the game, certainly not the referees and scorers, would think the team is named “5280”.
Not sure if it was ever really a rule, but I don’t think it was because the refs would think the team was called 5280. I’m pretty sure it would be so the players number is clear and not cluttered in with other numbers.
i wonder how they’re going to storytell the rainbow oil spill pattern on this one…
it’s notable that the 5280 font on the front is completely different than the standard Nuggets font on the bad. Odd
Was about to say that The Nugs’ name team name and number font are a rare example of a unique, not overly busy, nice font.
Dear NBA,
Just. Stop.
Agreed.
That and using area and airport codes were overdone about 10-15 years ago.
It won’t be done until all the sea-level teams get to have a giant “0” in place of a team or city name.
Looking forward to -15 on the Pelicans jerseys then.
Yes, I am certainly sick and tired of the 5280. The side pattern is a little strange, but I don’t mind it. The Nuggets have a strong claim on the rainbow motif, so they might as well use it every now and then.
I’m fairly certain the pattern is a topical map pattern. Kinda playing off the elevation thing
I am so tired of 5280. I just noticed that it’s on the Broncos’ helmet bumpers this week. Just stop, please.
If there’s any number that needs to be retired it’s 5280.
I don’t like having new city editions every season. However, because they are annual, I keep thinking the Pistons will get it right one of these times. Nope.
The Nuggets are currently in the midst of the best era in franchise history. Nikola Jokic is building a resume as one of the greatest players of all time and he led the Nuggets to their first championship. It’s a shame that such an iconic era for the franchise is going to be immortalized in an aesthetic mess. It’s especially bad since the Nuggets actually have a pretty nice aesthetic history with the 1980s Alex English era rainbows and the 2000s Carmelo Anthony era powder blues. Every team should just try to do what the Warriors did ~15 years ago: take the most iconic or fan favorite look from the franchise’s history, give it a modern update, and then just leave it alone. The Nuggets have the puzzle pieces to put together if they ever want to do that. Their first city edition was a good start, but it’s been all downhill since then.
City Edition wasnt a bad idea. But when one was deemed to be fairly popular, it should stick around for a few years. Most City edition’s have been pretty forgettable. But some have really been home runs, and weren’t around long enough