The Golden State Warriors are set to debut brand new jerseys with short sleeves on national television later this month.
Adidas is hoping the new uniform will spark a new movement in the NBA away from the traditional tank top jersey every team currently uses.
The Warriors have been getting a lot of attention lately as a legitimate playoff contender. After getting embarrassed by the Houston Rockets recently, perhaps the new jerseys will re-spark the fire the team started the season with.
According to the San Jose Mercury News , the Warriors new short sleeve jerseys have been in the works since Adidas pitched the idea to the team in August 2011.
About unveiling the new look now, Adidas Vice President of Global Basketball says:
“It was the right moment, the right team. Even more important, the right city. When you launch something as innovative as this — that will change the way the players look on the court and the way the fans support the team forever — why not launch it in the most innovative part of the United States?”
Warriors rookie Harrison Barnes is a fan of the new look:
“I think it will be a trendsetter. I think its something it will take people a little bit of time to get used to, but once they do it’ll be good. As long as I’m able to shoot and move, that’s all that matters.”
Yahoo! Sports reports that the jerseys have been designed with the fan in mind. Having sleeves on a jersey makes it easier for fans to represent their teams in public settings. It’s more fashionable.
Whether the jersey catches on or not may depend more on merchandise sales than on-court results. This isn’t the first drastic uniform change in recent sports memory. The 2012 NFL season was the first year Nike produced the league’s uniforms .
While the new NFL uniforms looked mostly the same, Nike made significant changes to how the uniforms react to the players on the field. The NFL is America’s most watched sport though and probably doesn’t have to worry about merchandise sales.
Images of the new jerseys can be found on the San Jose Mercury News’ website. The televised debut of the jerseys will be February 22, on ESPN.
What do you think? Are you a fan of the new Warriors short sleeve jerseys?