After hitting a home run with this year's Christmas Day uniforms, Adidas and the NBA appear to have kept the hot streak going with the kits players will rock at the 2016 NBA All-Star Game in Toronto in February, which were unveiled Thursday morning and which are pretty darn sharp:
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For the second straight season, the All-Star unis remain sleeveless, simple and suave, managing to integrate attractive and respectful nods to the exhibition's host city — last year, New York; this year, Toronto — without feeling like designers tried to jam a million different ideas into one ill-fitting frame. That's kind of impressive, considering how many elements are implemented here:
• The maple leaf overlays on the front of the red-and-white Western Conference and white-and-blue Eastern Conference uniforms, in recognition of Canada's national symbol;
• The Toronto skyline/cityscape across the back shoulders of the jerseys;
• "Single-layered fonts" intended to evoke the NBA's history in Toronto, which extends far beyond the introduction of the Toronto Raptors 21 seasons ago — the first NBA game ever played, all the way back on Nov. 1, 1946, pitted the Toronto Huskies against the New York Knickerbockers;
• Special star-shaped patches that combine maple-leaf flourishes with the NBA logo on the back of the uniforms;
• Several bits from the Raptors' recent redesign, including clawmarks on the star on the shorts and black-and-gold tags on the lower front left of the jersey, just like the Raps' Drake-inspired OVO alternate unis; and
• An acknowledgment of the game's increasing international flavor, as Adidas Basketbal marketing exec David Cho told SLAM: "[...] what we did was deconstruct the colors of the flags of all the countries that international players have represented in the All-Star Game to create this multi-colored pattern that you’ll find only on the inside of the jersey on the neck and the drawstring on the shorts."
The 2016 line will also include warm-weather warm-up gear that subtly highlights one of the more successful touches Adidas has featured in recent years: patches identifying each All-Star's career accomplishments, with differentiated designs for Most Valuable Player, Rookie of the Year and All-Star Game MVP trophies, and, of course, NBA championships.
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If we were to quibble about anything — and, y'know, this being the Internet, how could we not? — it'd be the thick striping on the top of the shorts, a look Adidas introduced at the collegiate level this past spring. The effect's especially iffy on the Western unis, which evokes the similarly styled and pretty unpopular strips Wisconsin wore in the Final Four.
That — to these eyes, at least — is an even more encroaching visual element than the Kia advertisement on the left-hand side of the front of the jersey, which we knew was coming (and which, really, we've known was coming for years).
I totally understand opposing the addition of ads to uniforms on general principle. That said — again, to these eyes — this doesn't feel nearly as egregious or look-ruining as many might have feared uniform advertisements might. Then again, that's the whole point of this sort of advertising, right? You don't notice it until you notice it, and then you've noticed it. The Kia logo will also appear on the All-Star jerseys sold to fans at retail, according to ESPN.com's Darren Rovell, so fans eager to communicate their distaste for the impending practice of jersey ads will have the opportunity to vote with their dollars ... or, more to the point, by keeping them in their pockets.
Adidas and the NBA, of course, will hope that the attractive overall package outweighs any concerns consumers might have about the changing nature of uniform presentation.
“This is the first NBA All-Star Game to be played outside the United States, and it is a very exciting time for basketball in Canada,” Adidas global basketball general manager Chris Grancio told Sports Illustrated's Tim Newcomb. “To honor this global celebration and pay tribute to Toronto—the site of the NBA’s first game—we’ve incorporated design elements that are inspired by the city’s basketball history, sports culture and unique fashion scene to make an All-Star collection that players and fans will love.”
So, did they succeed? Let us know in the comments below, on on Twitter or on Facebook.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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