The 2025 NBA Finals between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Indiana Pacers will begin tonight.
Thanks to Lockervision, we know what the uniform matchups for the Pacers and Thunder will be. We already knew the Pacers would be wearing their gold uniforms for as long as they remained in the playoffs, thanks to the NBA directing playoff teams to wear their “Core” uniforms (Icon, Association or Statement) beginning with the Conference Finals.
For the first four games of the Finals, the Pacers will stick with their gold “Statement” uniform, while the Thunder will counter with their white “Association” uniform for Game 1. (Games 1 and 2 will be played in OKC.)
For game two at home, and the following two in Indiana, the Thunder will wear their blue “Icon” uniform, which means three of the first four games will feature a very pleasing uni matchup.
And while it will be a very pleasing look (unlike Game 1’s white vs. gold), it shows how Nike’s system of dress — or whatever they call it for NBA uniforms — has made home and road jerseys irrelevant. While I’m fine with some NBA color vs. color games, I wish teams had to wear either white or gold, or another light color exclusively at home, and dark on the road. Yes, that ship has sailed and we all know why, but it still bothers me.
The uni matchups for Games 5, 6, and 7 — should any be necessary — will likely be revealed shortly after the series has begun. We know the Pacers will be in gold. You can see the Lockervision matchups here.
Of course, the jerseys will have special NBA Finals patches. And of course, they’ll be located on the back of the jersey, above the player NOB, because the primary patch placement on the front of the jerseys is currently occupied by a Nike swoosh and an ad.
Here’s how it looks on the Pacers:
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) June 3, 2025
I haven’t been able to locate a photo of the OKC game jersey with the Finals patch, but you can see it here on the back of their shooting shirt:
While I laud the NBA for not permitting “City” edition uniforms for the playoffs, teams are still permitted to choose from three different uniforms, and they don’t mandate white (or light color) uniforms at home. Is there any other sport in which two teams will wear the same uniforms in back-to-back games in different cities? I guess we should be thankful that we’ll get the most visually appealing combos for at least three games.
What are your thoughts on the matchups? Does it bother you that the Thunder and Pacers will wear blue and gold respectively in both OKC and Indy? Or do you like the new uni system where the only restrictions on uniforms is that they have sufficient contrast from one another? Either way, are you at least somewhat pleased that at least three games will feature a truly good looking color vs. color matchup?
I don’t understand why so many people want white at home for basketball and hockey. Why wouldn’t your team wear their team colors at home, and force the away team to wear the neutral white? If I am going to the game and wearing team colors in support, I’d expect my team to be in those colors. I don’t buy the “every game looks the same, it is better for white at home to see a variety of color matchups” simply because even when teams wear white there is still a vast difference in white road uniforms based on trim colors and overall uniform style (especially in hockey).
But I do agree that the NBA doing away with a home/road uniform protocol screws things up. I’m a fan of nickname on home jersey, city name on away jersey. The current NBA model practically negates this.
Lastly, to this day it shocks me that OKC is still using that awful logo. I have seen so many great concepts, especially Native American art style ones, that they could use. Also wish they’d go a lighter, bit more teal blue. Currently they appear a little to royal blue and like a Knicks knock off. OKC branding is one of the worst in the big four.
I think it should be white at home for NBA because then the home team isn’t camouflaged in the painted areas of their home floor.
Exactly! Plus, as long as the away team doesn’t have a uniform color that is the same as the court design, it provides some contrast. I kind of wish more NFL teams wore white at home. Especially the ones that play outside. The Saints “home uniforms” look completely different in natural sunlight as opposed the the dark lighting of the Superdome. And, provides some good contrast to all the opposing team’s stadium colors.
100% this. When the home team wears white with their team colors as accents, the painted area makes those accents pop; when they wear the exact same color, they get lost in the paint, especially if you don’t have a ginormous 4K TV where the players are almost life-size. In addition, having the road team wear their team colors provides more contrast; however, when they wear white on the road, their accent colors get totally lost. Or worse, if their accent colors are similar to the painted area, it makes them look like the home team. Maybe it’s not as big of a deal if you grew up during the current any-uniform-goes era, but for those of us who grew up when every team except for the Lakers wore white at home, your brain becomes hardwired to see the team in white as the home team, and reversing the colors can be confusing. Unfortunately, marketing has triumphed over tradition and color theory.
Ever since the NBA dished out gold tabs on the back of the neck for the franchises’ championships, is this the first matchup between two teams playing for their first?
We see the Pacers don’t have a tab, their 3 ABA championships don’t count, because that wasn’t an official league merger, just “NBA takes four teams and everybody else is dispersed.” And I doubled checked with Getty Images, the Thunder don’t claim the Seattle Sonics’ win.
I normally wouldn’t care about One More Bumper Sticker, but this is kind of cool. If I watch World Cup soccer, I notice “oh wow, this country might get their first star” and if the Final is just right, I definitely notice “some country is getting their first star.” One NBA team is definitely getting a gold tab for the first time, and that’s as cool to me as a country’s first World Cup star.
Yes, it’s the first time we get a Finals with two teams without championship tabs.
Interestingly, the Thunder have the right to wear one, since they inherited the Supersonics’ team history and records, but fans let the team know they didn’t want them to wear the tab since it was won by another city, and so they haven’t since the rollout in 2014-15.
Huh? I thought part of the agreement with Seattle/the NBA for the team to ship off to OKC was that they had to leave all Sonics history behind.
They kept the records and history but not the colors and trademarks. The latter remained in Seattle. Perhaps the NBA should do a similar thing with the Thunder like when the Pelicans became an ‘expansion’ team from 2002 and the Hornets were deemed ‘suspended’ by the league after its assets and personnel moved to New Orleans. They should’ve made the Thunder a 2008 expansion team and the SuperSonics a ‘suspended’ franchise. Keep those pre-2008 records in Seattle, not inherit them.
*Is there any other sport in which two teams will wear the same uniforms in back-to-back games in different cities?* Soccer. Teams have primary uniforms and usually only change if there’s a color clash with their opponents. Although, that’s started to change in recent years because $$$
I’d like for the NBA (and every other league for that matter) to have teams designate a “home” uniform (from their “core” unis) before the season that they have to wear for at least 75% of their home games. We can keep color v color but make sure there’s enough contrast, and you have an easily identifiable visual brand. Not dissimilar to designating white and color as home and away. At least we’d know who the home team is 75% of the time
I wish the NBA would let teams have more flexibility on how many times they can wear the traditional “home” uniforms. Some teams — like the Lakers and the Pacers, for instance — it seems kind of silly to see anything but the iconic yellow unis at home. And since they don’t clash with anything unless they’re playing each other, it doesn’t affect the other teams’ ability to pick whatever they want for those games as well.
But every time I see, for instance, the Celtics wearing a black jersey at home, my heart dies a little.
I prefer color-on-color if the matchup looks good. Having a designated white uniform feels like an anachronism given that no one is watching games on black-and-white TVs.
There are color blind people watching, though. Don’t forget them.
Didn’t think about that. Geez, imagine if the Celtics wore green against the Bulls in red? I had a friend in high school that was color blind. He said luckily he knew the placement of the red and green lights at traffic lights.
He should probably avoid Tipperary Hill in Syracuse: link
White versus gold shouldn’t be allowed. Those gold Pacers unis have white on the one side, too. Insufficient contrast, IMO.
Are there any other teams in the NBA who have smaller fan-bases outside of their home city? I can’t think of a worse Finals matchup in terms of National Interest. Am I wrong?
It’s about time some smaller market teams make it. I don’t care about large market at all or revenue dollars. Let teams in small markets have their time to shine.
Who cares? This is good for the league even if it will be bad for TV ratings.
Exactly.
I’d imagine the only smaller fanbases are the Wizards and Jazz, although DC is obviously a big market/city and SLC isn’t.
Such an ESPN comment, this. Media want big market dynasties winning year after year to generate more income so we are led to believe that other teams than Boston, both the LA Teams, New York, Brooklyn, Philly, Chicago and Miami do not deserve to win but only serve as cannon fodder.
Also, ESPN wants us to care about how many people are watching. As if that matters. It only matters to them because of the money they will rake in.
There is a good piece on the Pacers and the Thunder being small market teams making the Finals on the site of SI today. Read it and learn: the league actually applauds parity between the big and the smaller markets and rightfully so. Dynasties are over and we must be grateful for that.
Who came up with the names “Statement” and “Association”? I’ve never understood that. Whatever happened to just calling them “alternate” uniforms?
Just some anonymous Nike marketing drone, probably. Or a committee, maybe the same one charged with inventing a backstory for every new godawful City edition jersey.
How is gold vs white insufficient contrast? Gold vs white wouldn’t be a problem in the NFL, and I fail to see how it is an issue in the NBA.
Yes. Gold vs White certainly WOULD be an issue in the NFL. Gold should be a light color. (Along with white, orange, light blue.) Look at the UFL. SA Brahmas have gold for their light jersey. Looks great when playing a team in blue or red.
But why would it be an issue? I can see the green/red argument, but are color-blind people unable to distinguish between white and gold? And nobody is watching on black and white TVs anymore.
The argument of lack of contrast between a color uniform and the floor colors means that you are not concentrating on the game itself, which is unfortunately very common with a lot of NBA fans (especially in the arenas). I do not care which of their uniforms they wear during the game, that is nice to discuss before or after the game. I am a very intense game watcher (also in front of the screen) and therefore hate all the interruptions, semi-entertainment, giveaways, acting out in front of cameras, celeb watching. Just give me the pure game. I will discuss the choice of uniforms at a later point.
White versus gold is fine with me, Game 1 was a very good game to watch.
Teams uniforms should not blend in with the floor they play in. Watching OKC vs Minnesota and Dallas was a nightmare as blue was everywhere. Playing Madden with the Bengals at the 50 yard line is hard to see as the logo blends in with the uniforms.
Personally, I believe all NBA teams should still wear shorts with belts.