Every Nike City Alternate NBA Uniform, Ranked

Nike and the NBA unveiled their final uniform designs for the 2017-18 season on Wednesday with the City Editions. These alternates will be worn by each team a handful of times this season and each of them feature something different or special that represents something about their city.

In total, I think the collection was a relative success. There were more uniforms I liked or at least thought were perfectly fine than I disliked, and considering you can never please all the people all of the time, that’s gotta be a win. I hope to see some tweaks to these in the coming years, but for now this is what we have for 26 of the 30 teams (four remain yet to be released). With a big release like this rather than the jerseys simply trickling out over a month or two like previous Nike uniforms this season, we got to see most of them at the same time, which means we naturally wanted to compare and rank them against each other.

The Rockets, Knicks, Raptors, and Heat are excluded from these rankings because their uniforms were not part of the league-wide release, so that could be good or bad, depending on whether they are good or bad. For the rest, we’re ranking them 26 to 1, with the understanding that this is a wildly subjective exercise and everyone will see them differently. That is except for the very bottom, where pretty much everyone should agree it’s time to go back to the drawing board.

26. Oklahoma City Thunder

Goodness gracious. The lines not being parallel is really bugging me and please do not get me started on the font on the OKC part. Our Ryan Nagelhout went into greater detail about how the Thunder desperately need to completely retool their jersey designs after this one leaked, so you can check that out for more, but the short version is: This is bad.

25. Cleveland Cavaliers

There’s really nothing redeeming about this jersey. The light gray doesn’t work with the yellow and white. The font is bad, particularly with the numbering. “The Land” across the chest feels like they’re just trying too hard to make that work. Let’s take this one back to the drawing board.

24. San Antonio Spurs

Please stop with the digital camo, Spurs. I beg of you. This was a chance to bring back the awesome teal and pick colors to a fresh design and bring some kind of color back to your uniform set. Instead you spit out this *gestures in the general direction of the jersey*. The logo gets washed into the camo and the off-center logo/numbers thing just doesn’t work. Please try again.

23. Dallas Mavericks

Congrats to the Mavericks on creating their own uniforms in a late 2000s basketball video game. I don’t dislike the color scheme, I actually think it works, but can we please do something with the font that doesn’t look like this was thrown together in MS Paint. There are so many fonts, please pick a different one.

22. Atlanta Hawks

You know how I said Dallas needs to spice up its font? The Hawks need to do less. Like, way less. I’m not anti-volt like some folks, and the triangle thing is still a little weird but I’m used to it by now. However, this font is stunningly bad. I like the callback to the old blue and green Hawks unis with the line sweeping across the chest, but everything else could use some help.

21. Phoenix Suns

Purple uniforms can be really good. These, not so much. It is a lot of purple and the two-tone deal feels like a bit too much. You’ll be shocked to know I don’t love this font, either. Font choice is important to me.

20. Indiana Pacers

I see what they’re going for here with the checkerboard stripe and the racing number look, but it just doesn’t work for me. We’re officially into the section where I don’t hate them, understand what the effort was, and just don’t really like them still.
19. Orlando Magic

A+ for creativity, C- for execution. Going with the logo rather than “Magic” makes these a bit too gimmicky for me, but I like that they went for it with the pattern.
18. Sacramento Kings

Big fan of this shade of blue. Not so much the white top. I love this logo. I hate how small the numbers on the front are. Basically, this is like halfway to being something I’d be all about, but instead it finds itself in the bottom half of the rankings.

17. Boston Celtics

The parquet floor pattern is nice. The gray is not. It’s fine, but does very little for me as is the case with most gray uniforms.

16. Detroit Pistons

This jersey is also fine. I don’t have much negative to say or positive to say, it pretty much just exists.

15. Milwaukee Bucks

I think this would be a top-10 jersey in these rankings without the horizontal stripes. If it were just cream and green and white I’d be all about it. As is, it’s fine and I appreciate the effort to do something different.

14. Minnesota Timberwolves

I like this gray look better than Boston’s, but it’s still not great. That said, compared to Minnesota’s other jerseys this season, this is fantastic.

13. Brooklyn Nets

This uniform exists. I know they’re trying to do something different with the roadway design and the piping to look like lane lines, but in the end it just looks like every other Nets uniform.

12. Washington Wizards

This is a really clean look that’s two tweaks from being fantastic. First, the numbers should be a solid color (red or navy). Second, take out the “of Columbia” part. I feel like they did a focus group and someone was like “Why is it say ‘The district'” and because of that one dummy they tacked this on late. Otherwise, this is very good.

11. Charlotte Hornets

I’ve gone back and forth on these, but as of now I like them. The sides kinda look like a screensaver, but I think it works. I also am a fan of Charlotte’s font which just generally helps their jerseys in my eyes.

10. Memphis Grizzlies

The meaning behind the font choice and how it stands out because of the plainness of the uniform really was executed well. The font is a call back to the Sanitation Workers’ Strike “I Am A Man” slogan. For a team with a non-black and white color scheme usually to go there makes the uniforms pop more and the connection to the city’s history is great.

9. Los Angeles Clippers

I’m sure this will be a ranking I get yelled at about, but I don’t care. Yes, they look a bit like the Flint Tropics uniforms from Semi-Pro, but I like that movie and I like these uniforms. I’m a sucker for light blue unis and compared to the Clippers’ usual threads this is a major improvement.

8. New Orleans Pelicans

I’ve always like the Mardi Gras uniforms and these are no different. The colors pop, the font is great, and I think the way the numbers are offset works really well here.

7. Denver Nuggets

A note to the Kings, this is how you do the logo uniform. This looks really good, even if the numbers are a tiny bit smaller than I’d like.

6. Utah Jazz

This one is another divisive uni. I’m a huge fan. I think the color gradient is great and while it might be a bit much for some people, I’m here for colorful unis.

5. Los Angeles Lakers

No City uniform will sell more than this one. I can guarantee that. I was skeptical when we heard rumors of the snakeskin pattern, but I’m into it. They did well with the Kobe-inspired threads and you can bet they’ll fly off the shelves in L.A.

4. Philadelphia 76ers

It’s gorgeous. Everything from here up has a case for No. 1 that I wouldn’t really fight too hard with you about. As a whole, Philly might have the league’s best uniforms.

3. Golden State Warriors

This year’s Chinese New Year look for Golden State is fantastic. The Bay works way better than The Land does in the city nickname department on a jersey, especially because there isn’t a hideous gray abomination around it.

2. Portland Trail Blazers

I went back and forth as to whether this should be in the top spot, but either way I’m in love. The font is perfection, the plaid on the black is great and that red pops so well off of it. No surprise Nike brought the heat for the hometown squad.

1. Chicago Bulls

I love them updating the old script Chicago jersey with the light blue and red, rather than black. The stars are a nice touch on the side. It’s fantastic. *chef kissing fingers motion*

Note: The Miami Heat have not officially released their City uniform, but if this indeed is it (and there’s no reason to believe it isn’t) it belongs in the top spot.