Nike is now officially the uniform provider for the NBA, and on Friday night, they held a prime-time television event showcasing player representatives from all 30 teams modeling their new-look jerseys for the coming season. The sports apparel giant has also recently been unveiling new “statement” edition alternate jerseys that will debut next season.
Last week, they tweeted out images of a new Cavs jersey that honors their miraculous Game 7 win in the 2016 NBA Finals, and they also introduced a new Warriors uni called “The Town,” which pays homage to their Oakland roots.
The logo that appears on that jersey is apparently of an iconic Jack London Oak that resides near City Hall, which also happens to be the same image that Oakland-native Damian Lillard has tattooed across his chest.
https://twitter.com/NickDePaula/status/908874488577613824
On Sunday, ESPN pointed this out to the world, and Lillard, naturally, wasn’t too pleased by any insinuations anyone might want to draw from this bare fact.
This is pretty bad . https://t.co/SMLquJCQb7
— Damian Lillard (@Dame_Lillard) September 17, 2017
To be fair, ESPN went out of their way (in the body of the article, anyway) to clarify that they weren’t making any such insinuations about Lillard’s loyalty to the Trail Blazers or any future aspirations he might have of one day playing for his hometown team.
After all, Lillard has had the tattoo for a number of years now, well prior to the release of the new alternate jerseys. Still, it’s a coincidence that some people will clearly find too tempting not to read too much into.
