Every year in the weeks preceding the start of the NBA season the moment of the “power rankings” arrives, in which analysts and specialized magazines line up the teams of the two Conferences according to their respective chances of competing for the title. The starting grids that make up are usually divided into groupings: “contenders” (the favorites for the title), “pretenders” (more or less legitimate aspirants), “playoff/play-in teams” (the middle class) and “tanking teams” (the least competitive); labels, these, which over time have transformed into definitions in their own right of the status of the franchises, also used outside of forecasts and rankings. Following the same pattern, in the stars and stripes basketball nights in which we are discovering the new uniforms Nike City Edition 2024/25we have drawn up an aesthetic – and therefore, necessarily, de gustibus – ranking of the best and worst “special” jerseys of the current NBA season.
Established with the start of the partnership Nike-NBA in 2017, the City Editions are extraordinary variations of the match uniforms released annually by each of the thirty organizations (starting in 2023, together with the fields for the NBA Cup), and increasingly anticipated and appreciated by the public. These are kits designed as a celebration of the bond between the franchises and their respective cities, communities and cultures: a concept pursued with wide creative freedom, and sometimes even with a more or less clear distance from the colours, style and visual identity of the reference brand . All this, involving artists of various backgrounds, collaborating with designers from the streetwear universe, intercepting the trends of the moment and giving life, in short, to one of the many occasions (too many?) in which NBA teams compete off the pitch, with of style. “Power ranking” in hand, therefore, here we are seated in the jury, ready to start from those who deserved the honors of the first page.
Contenders
As in any self-respecting Power Ranking, we open with the obligatory favorites for this year’s best City Edition award, and therefore with three nominations that surprise up to a certain point. Those, in order, of Toronto Raptors, Utah Jazz e San Antonio Spurs.
On the occasion of their 30th birthday, the Canadians focused on a now widely consolidated security: the public’s appreciation – from the faithful to the more occasional – for the old-style logo Jurassic Park; that is, that stylized dinosaur, red and purple, used at the turn of the new millennium and made eternally iconic by the most representative player of those Raptors: Vince Carter. The silhouette of the reptile passing the ball under his legs, inspired by “Air Canada’s” immortal dunk in the 2000 Slam Dunk Contest, is a tribute to his recent induction into the Hall of Fame and the retirement of his number 15 jersey at Scotiabank Arena . On the background of the shirt, an elegant black with thin vertical bindings, and at the bottom the writing “We The North”, in a golden shade like the Swoosh on the chest. So beautiful that, quoting the words of Carter himself in that All-Star Game, one would say that this is it, “it’s over”. We, on the other hand, have just started, and there are 29 other competitors in line chasing us.
Starting from Utah Jazzwho in turn have focused on a great classic, definitively putting aside (deo gratias) the yellow-red given the past years; so here’s that identifying look that never seems to get boring, created by the mix of Jazz Note and mountains of Salt Lake City. The classic font, the white-blue details and the “refreshed purple mountain design” of this edition give a new touch to a shirt that takes us back to the years of “Stockton-to-Malone”: the golden age of the franchise, on and off the field. THE San Antonio Spursinstead, they drew – in the tank top and even more so in the shorts – from a distinctive element of the city: the architecture of the Hemisfair neighborhood and the Spanish influence that characterizes it. Packaging the product in a promotional video that rides the Latin soul of the fanbase, with the hombre del pueblo Manu Ginobili passing the torch of Texan hearts to the child prodigy Victor Wembanyama.
Pretenders
Competing with Toronto, Utah and San Antonio may seem, and indeed is, a complicated undertaking for anyone. In the second row, however, there is no shortage of City Editions that try with imagination and taste. A good example? The kit of Minnesota Timberwolves“cold” in name and in fact, complementary to last year’s model with the dedication to “land of ten thousand lakes” and its winter atmosphere.
Or them Atlanta Hawkswho have dusted off an old pattern – the design of an eagle’s wings – recalling in some ways the shirt of “Spud” Webb in the 1987 All-Star Game. The colors, however, are all new: white and air force blue (we are in “A-Town”) with black and ocher details, for an interesting mix between the origin and evolution of the brand.
In a similar way the Charlotte Hornets have updated the City Edition series inspired by the city’s past. The capital of North Carolina it was the seat of the first United States Mint, in the historic headquarters on Mint Street – and here is a mint-colored uniform (branded by the jumpman Jordan, as usual), with gold patterns like the minted coins. Little to say about the first glance, but you might have the feeling of something you’ve already seen (and you’re not wrong).
Other examples of mixing old and new are represented by Orlando Magic (with the classic vertical lines rethought like armour, and with colors and fonts revisited in a Gothic key), come on Cleveland Cavaliers (inspired, as also in the elegant matching parquet, by the heritage of the Cleveland Museum of Art), come on Philadelphia 76ers (a mix of classic 60s and modern taste), and come on Phoenix Suns (a reissue of the jersey for the All-Star Game hosted in 1995, which defied the red-blue aesthetic imposed by the NBA until then).
I New York Knicks they show off a styleof strong late 90s/early 2000s influence”, as the organization itself says. NY has confirmed the collaboration with Kithreversing the colors compared to last season in a design that aims to “bridge the gap between past and present”. Even more oriented towards the 90s style, the Houston Rockets instead they dust off the aesthetics of Hakeem Olajuwon’s time, celebrating the “repeat” (at the 30th anniversary) in a uniform that is a City re-Edition, and which we also like for this reason.
Last but not least of this “tier” there are Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies e Oklahoma City Thunder. The first with a bone-colored shirt, also in this case openly inspired by their golden age, and therefore by the tenacity of the “Bad Boys” (with a patch dedicated to the 1989-1990 back-to-back); the Pistons, on the other hand, with a 70s style uniform to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the birth of the Memphis Sounds (ABA); the Thunder with the usual rush of electric energy and going against the grain by removing “City” from the writing.
Play-in e tanking
The last two groups: the one in which there are usually tough teams perhaps, but for one reason or another not up to the best; and the one made up of teams in the process of “rebuilding” who frequent the slums of the league. In the case of this ranking, it is a postponement of twelve months and therefore to the next City Edition, convinced (arguably) that in 2024 they could do better.
In the battery of “Play-in jerseys” we find i Denver Nuggetswho paid homage to the tradition of shirts with the Colorado mountains (on the theme from 5,280 feet of altitude) and the rainbow, in what however seems like a faded copy of many beautiful tank tops shown off in recent years; the Golden State Warriorsoriented towards the modern, innovative and slightly cold style of San Francisco, rather than the energy of the past (similar speech for the “icy” Indiana Pacers).
And again: i Los Angeles Clippers they elegantly bear the signature of Jonas Wood (artist and designer), but have little identity (although not as much as the Milwaukee Bucks); the colors of New Orleans Pelicans – mixed with those of last year, for a particular fluorescent purple-gold-green – they are not bad, but the combination with the fantasy and the writings made up of bones convinces us less; hey Los Angeles Lakerssimply, they released a nice shirt, but perhaps lacking in interesting elements, at least in the context of a City Edition and a cultural and historical context of the genre.
At the bottom of our preferences there are a handful of teams for which, as mentioned, we’ll see you next year. That of Boston Celtics Joe Mazzulla also practically snubbed it, just as the first reactions were quite cold for the collaboration of KAWS per i Brooklyn Nets. I Chicago Bullsi Miami Heat hey Dallas Mavericks they chose a clean but very unevocative design, while i Sacramento Kings they took over the colors (no, not of the Philadelphia 76ers) of the Cincinnati Royals. Finally, there are the Portland Trail Blazers with a mix of many styles, perhaps too many, ei Washington Wizardswhich certainly don’t help an already quite banal design with the colors.
