The biggest day of the NBA’s regular season is here, as the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers kicked off a loaded hoops slate Christmas Day. But from the start of Monday’s game at Madison Square Garden, fans were left scratching their heads, and neither the Knicks nor the Sixers were wearing special uniforms.
For whatever reason, Nike decided to punt on making Christmas Day jerseys. This was one of the things adidas did really well when it was in charge of the NBA’s unis — they weren’t always the prettiest threads on earth, but they were a cool and unique thing that we saw every year on Dec. 25.
But this year, Nike has decided to go in a different direction. The Sixers are wearing their red Statement jerseys, while the Knicks are in their classic white threads. It is a nice look for both squads, but it’s not, you know, a symbol of Christmas Day.
Some, like ESPN’s Darren Rovell, think this is the latest error in Nike’s approach to being the NBA’s official uniform provider.
Really hard to understand how Nike was seemingly so unprepared for their first NBA season. Jersey tears on the court, supply chain issues with fan jerseys, no special XMas jerseys.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 25, 2017
Nike was too cheap to make Christmas Jerseys ? Between all the rips and tears and the colour schemes looking worse and added ads on jerseys, Nike went ahead ruined the Jersey game. No lie.
— Mich M. (@MirazNBA) December 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/WillJam19/status/945332943496581120
https://twitter.com/JimVilk/status/945342566299590657
Nike really made no effort to make Christmas unis for the NBA games today, theyve just been taking L’s all year with the new jerseys
— Hoops Reference (@HoopsReference) December 25, 2017
Most, though, are just upset that Nike decided against going with “tradition” and making Christmas jerseys.
https://twitter.com/RealLifeKaz/status/945353565081567232
THERE'S NO SPECIAL CHRISTMAS JERSEYS THIS YEAR AND WYD NIKE I'M EXTREMELY MAD ONLINE
— tim cato (@tim_cato) December 25, 2017
No XMas jerseys @Nike wtf
— Caleb Gilbert (@Rex_N_Affect) December 25, 2017
nike dumb af for not making christmas jerseys this year
— ryan hurst (@hurstmadeit) December 25, 2017
https://twitter.com/Devin_Walker5/status/945345311668686850
Nike failing the NBA https://t.co/LJYGITDz6f
— Isaiah 54:17 (@KoachLeek) December 25, 2017
And if you want Christmas threads and want to remain optimistic, I have some bad news: Nike has confirmed that there won’t be anything coming down the pipeline this season.
Officially, Nike says there's 'nothing formal' coming down the pipe for today. This is the first Christmas day slate with no special jerseys since 2011.
— Michael Sykes, II (@MikeDSykes) December 25, 2017
Oh well, I suppose there’s always next year.
