‘Sunset’ uniforms are history
Nike will provide NBA teams with uniforms this next season, and a victim of the switch from adidas is the Oklahoma City Thunder’s orange ‘sunset’ suits that they often wore at home.
Home jerseys? Road jerseys? So last season.
Nike takes over this season as the NBA’s provider of uniforms and apparel, and it announced Tuesday the league is eliminating the “home” and “road” distinctions for uniforms. The home team will pick which uniform to wear when it hosts, and the visitor will choose a contrasting uniform from its assortment.
And teams will have an assortment.
Nike, which is replacing adidas as the NBA’s apparel partner, will roll out four uniforms for each team, called “editions.” Up first: the Association and Icon editions. The Association uniform will replace a team’s traditional home whites, the Icon its traditional road colors.
For the Thunder, that means a white uniform and a blue one, based on Oklahoma City’s traditional home and road looks.
The Thunder expects to have renderings to unveil within the next week. The new jerseys will be available for purchase in October.
During the season, Nike will unveil two new uniform sets for each team — one it says is inspired by “the athlete’s mindset” and one inspired by “the community.”
It’s unclear what colors or designs will appear on the Thunder’s new alternate uniforms, but they will represent a change.
Nike is not producing sleeved jerseys, which puts an end to OKC’s shortsleeved white alternate. And the orange “sunset” alternates that the Thunder has worn the past two seasons will be retired, The Oklahoman has learned.
In addition to the four standard editions, eight NBA teams will have “Classic” edition uniforms, which will celebrate “some of the most iconic uniforms in league history,” according to a Nike release.
The new uniforms — the result of research that included 3-D body maps of players including heat and sweat maps — are composed of what Nike’s release calls “Alpha Yarns” and recycled polyester. Each uniform represents approximately 20 recycled plastic bottles, according to a Nike release.
Nike claims the material will wick sweat 30 percent faster than current NBA uniforms.
NBA players — including those on last summer’s Olympic gold-medal-winning USA Basketball team — tested early versions of the uniforms, which were modified based on player feedback.
Florida con man targeted Westbrook, George
A South Florida con man who posed as the manager of singer Adele targeted sports stars including the Thunder's Russell Westbrook and Paul George and former OKC guard Victor Oladipo, according a report by the Miami Herald on Tuesday.
Citing an arrest warrant Tuesday, the Herald reported that con man Justin Jackson posed as Adele’s manager when he offered tickets to the singer’s concert in exchange for sneakers from Westbrook and Carmelo Anthony, among others, purportedly for a charity auction.
Jackson succeeded in getting sneakers shipped to him from George and Oladipo, according to the report.
Jackson and his wife were charged Tuesday with more than a dozen felonies, according to the report.
They initially were arrested in May when, according to Miami-Dade police, Jackson posed as Adele’s manager in an effort to get free tickets to a show by rapper Kendrick Lamar.
According to the Miami Herald, Jackson previously served two years in a Florida prison after he posed as a representative for singer Madonna and persuaded a New York boutique to loan out $2.4 million in jewelry, which he sold to a South Florida pawnshop.