Welcome to a color-on-color Friday edition of NBA uniform matchup rankings. Out of ten games today, six of them are color-on-color. As someone who loves those types of games, that makes it pretty fun to rank today’s games. None of them are going to top any end-of-season rankings, but we still have a pretty good crop of games. There is one bad game we have to get through, so let’s get that out of the way first. As always, all image credits go to Lockervision.
10-Magic at Timberwolves
Any time the Timberwolves decide to wear one of their main two jerseys, the game almost always become a snoozefest. I remember getting excited when I saw they were getting new uniforms in 2017, only to be extremely disappointed when the reveal came. They do have some awesome alternates, but this navy jersey and the accompanying white are nothing special. It doesn’t help that Orlando is also in a meh jersey, so we get an extremely boring game here.
9-Pelicans at Spurs
Here is the lowest ranked color-on-color game of the day. As I’ve said in the past, I really like these Spurs Icon jerseys. The reason this game is so low is because New Orleans decided to absolutely ruin their red uniforms this year. Up until that, The Pelicans’ red jersey was one of my favorites in the whole league. Now that the numbers are blue and harder to see, and they replaced ‘Pelicans’ with ‘Crescent City,’ this is now in contention with my least favorite in the league. Sorry for the bad matchup, Spurs, but I can’t move this any higher.
8-Clippers at Pistons
Finally, we have a game where I don’t hate one of the jerseys. Instead, though, we have a game where I don’t like either. The Clippers are too plain, and the Pistons are trying to do too much. I also don’t love the black on black for the letters and numbers for Detroit. All in all, there’s nothing much to say other than this is easily near the bottom.
7-Heat at Wizards
Apparently when you average out one of my favorite NBA uniforms with one of my least favorite, you get a middle of the road game. I don’t know what the heck Washington was going for here, but at least they are matched up against a very solid Heat uniform to lessen the blow. This may be the highest the Wizards rank all season when wearing this City uniform.
6-Raptors at Rockets
I really thought this game would rank higher, but it ended up surprisingly in the middle. It is the highest ranked game that isn’t color-on-color, so there’s that. I do really like these Rockets jerseys (I could do without the ‘H-Town’ though), but I still don’t love these Raptors jerseys. Together, they make a solid matchup that would rank higher on worse days,
5-Kings at Pacers
For this game and the next, this matchup is carried by the non-blue uniforms. I thoroughly enjoy these Pacers jerseys, but I’m so-so on these Kings jerseys. I know what they’re going for with a sort of throwback to the Oscar Robertson Cincinnati Royals. That doesn’t make it any better for me, though. I will probably always prefer the Kings in purple. Together, I can admit this a pretty good-looking game, but I can also say it would look even better with Sacramento in black or purple.
4-Trail Blazers at Nuggets
Blue jersey getting carried: take two. Portland absolutely has better red jerseys in their past, but this one is still really good. As for Denver, you probably know how I feel about nickname jerseys. ‘Mile High City’ is no different. Together, though, it’s red vs blue, so it’s hard to mess up. This is not one of the better ones, but it’s still pretty good.
3-Hornets at Thunder
We now are in the territory where it’s basically 1A, 1B and 1C. Any one of these games could realistically expect number one on any given day. I love Oklahoma City rocking orange as an OSU grad, and I also love Charlotte actually using purple. Neither implementation is done perfectly, but they combine to be a really fun matchup.
2-Warriors at Grizzlies
I kind of shocked myself with putting this game this high. Is it weird that both teams are in blue? Sure. But, to me, there’s enough of a difference in the blues to enjoy two really good uniforms. I don’t love the rest of Memphis’ set, but this one is definitely a gem. And for Golden State, the colors just work for me, even if I don’t normally love blue and yellow combinations.
1-Suns at Hawks
What a fun matchup. Not only do we have offensive firepower on the court, but we get two incredibly underrated uniforms matched up against one another. This Suns jersey is definitely a slight downgrade from the previous ‘Valley’ jersey, but this is still way better than your average uniform. And for Atlanta, this is one of their best jerseys that doesn’t have a hawk on the front or a sash. Both uniforms combine to be so close to what I would call a banger, but saying it’s a really good B+ is all I will give this matchup today.
For More NBA News and Rumors
For more great content follow me on X/Twitter @nick_oldenburg. To view more great stories featuring the NBA or College Hoops click this link.
