Welcome back in for another day of ranking NBA uniform matchups. Today brings us no traditional home vs away games, and two color-on-color games of very different quality. of the 14 uniforms being worn today, I would give the stamp of approval to the ‘great’ tier to six of them, with only two getting the ‘bad’ label. We’ll start with those two uniforms with our first couple game. As always, all image credits go to Lockervision. Without further ado, let’s kick off with number seven.
7-Pelicans at Clippers
It feels wrong putting a uniform the quality of the Clippers in last, but we have New Orleans to blame for that. Check any of my previous rankings to see how much I don’t like these Pelicans uniforms. I’ll admit, if you squint and just look at the color matchup, this game doesn’t look half bad. But this ranking isn’t about squinting. Bring back the red uniforms from before and, no joke, this game ranks number one or two today.
6-Warriors at 76ers
When I saw these two teams were playing each other today I got ready to put this game at the top. I love both teams sets of uniforms, so it would’ve been super easy to make a visually appealing matchup. The Warriors held up their end of the bargain. Philly … did not. I really don’t like these City uniforms, especially because the main set is so dang good already. My disappointment is immeasurable, and my day is ruined.
5-Cavaliers at Wizards
Boring and plain vs navy is pretty much the opposite of my cup of tea (although I do really like these Wizards uniforms). They actually mesh surprisingly well, so I would give this game a ‘good’ rating. But it would rank a lot higher if Cleveland brought anything exciting to the table (maybe a stripe? some piping? a waistband?). As it stands, number five is as high as I can go.
4-Raptors at Hornets
Here’s another game with a uniform I don’t think too fondly of that actually pairs pretty well with a uniform I do really like. Red vs teal accents always trigger happy thoughts for me as a Rangers fan (after beating the Diamondbacks in the World Series). And while I don’t like the whole thing, I’d be lying if I said Toronto’s uniform is all bad. Both teams have better uniforms in their archive, but this is a perfectly serviceable chapter in their history.
3-Pistons at Kings
The more I do these rankings, the more I realize how blessed we are that the Kings knocked their rebrand out of the park. I can take or leave the Cincinnati Royals inspired City uniforms, and I haven’t had the chance to rank the two-tone Statement uniforms (although I really like those as well), but I can’t get over how good their main two uniforms are. They elevate any opponent to the point where they are competing for the top spot. Even Detroit, whose uniforms are the definition of ‘meh.’ The only thing I’d change is making the number font a more standard block font, but I have nothing else to add.
2-Spurs at Heat
This is probably the actual top spot for best matchup of the day, but I’ll explain why when we get to the next spot. San Antonio once again killed it with their City edition uniforms, making it four consecutive years with great City uniforms. I’d say this is the weakest of the four, but that is more of a testament to the other three. And Miami doesn’t get mentioned enough when we talk about best uniform sets in the league. These are two awesome uniforms that bring unique colors to the table to make a very solid matchup.
1-Hawks at Celtics
Yeah, number two is probably better, if only because you are actually going to be able to tell these teams apart on TV. But this is a case where I just love both uniforms, and I’m interested to see how they mesh together. As a wrestling fan, it’s like if I love two wrestlers, I want to see them fight, regardless of how good the actual matchup is going to be. They don’t fully work on paper, but I’m interested to see how it looks in action, because both teams are going to look phenomenal on their own.
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