There was a minor uproar when the San Antonio Spurs introduced a silver alternate jersey before the 2012-13 season. Where was the iconic arched typeface? Why were the prominent logo and front-facing player number both off-center? Would Gregg Popovich ever stand for such nonsense?
In hindsight, it’s ridiculous that anyone ever believed the Spurs would be concerned with something so trivial as uniforms. Winning and playing the right way are the only things that matter to them, and of course a new outfit wouldn’t have any bearing on those unflappable San Antonio successes. It’s not like a basic silver jersey featuring two emblems was anywhere near outlandish, either. If anything, they were more Spurs-ian than an alternate uniform seemed possible.
It only makes sense, then, that San Antonio would tweak that first “Signature Spurs” look with the simplest of changes, one that happens to coincide with the franchise’s most significant shift since Tim Duncan came aboard in the late 1990s.
There’s no telling just how good the Spurs will be during LaMarcus Aldridge’s first season in the Alamo City. But no matter what Popovich does schematically to accommodate his high-scoring, high-usage big man, San Antonio’s fabric will be mostly woven from the same thread its been for almost two decades – just like the new “Signature Spurs” uniforms making the simplest of changes from silver to black.
The Spurs will wear these jerseys for their Oct. 30 home opener and on several occasions throughout the 2015-16 season. Unfortunately for the rest of the league, though, they’ll be their normally brilliant and resilient selves for its duration.
