So the big news coming out of Media Day turned out to be the Magic unveiling their new “Pride Uniforms.”
Nikola Vucevic, Tobias Harris, Kyle O’Quinn and Victor Oladipo were among the players walking around in them. The team is set to wear them 12 times at home this year with the first game coming November 26 against Golden State.
In person they are pretty much the current uniform set in silver with blue pinstriped and, of course, sleeves.
That has probably been the biggest point of contention as fans are largely not on board with the sleeve revolution the NBA and adidas appear to be forcing onto us. The Warriors also debuted a “slate” sleeved alternate as they have been the franchise experimenting with sleeves the most. The Rockets also appear set to wear a sleeved uniform for the Chinese New Year.
But, back to the Magic.
Most people I have heard absolutely hate the uniforms. The sleeve thing gets them. Then there is the kind of blandness of it all. There is nothing special about these uniforms that would differentiate them from the regular set the team wears.
The press release the Magic sent out explains the “pride” aspect as the silver is meant to be a callback to the silver star in the original Magic logo. OK, a stretch, but sure. It is not like the Magic have any other colors they could use for an alternate uniform.
What do the sports logo and uniform experts think?
Demetrius Bell of SportsLogos.net is generally a fan of the design. He likes the use of silver here (after previous failed uses of silver most notably with the Spurs and Mavericks in the mid-2000s) and the pinstripes are always nice. But the sleeves are his big detraction. And he is not a fan of the blue stripe on the sleeves. He alternately says it gives them a pajamas feel and makes the sleeves look like an undershirt.
Paul Lukas of Uni Watch echoed many of these sentiments:
"Color-wise, I think this shade of gray works quite nicely with blue. One of the better gray designs I’ve seen, in any sport.I like the gusset stripes at the shoulders. Wish more of the NBA’s sleeved jerseys went this route. (Of course, I’d like it even more if they used striped gusset inserts, but hey, baby steps.) But the gusset stripes have a retro feel that clashes with the modern collar design. They’d be better off going with an old-school scoop-neck collar for this one."
He did go on to say that there is zero reason for this jersey to exist.
That is probably where my disappointment comes in. This might as well be a second alternate jersey as there are very few distinguishing features outside the sleeves to this uniform from the other jerseys the Magic wear. In fact, this is just the team finishing out its color palate.
Does it look fine though? Sure. I am OK with the team wearing it. I am not a fashion expert in the least, so everyone is entitled to their opinion. It will be more interesting to see the uniforms in action.
When it comes to Magic uniforms, these are probably not the greatest thing the team will ever wear. Those are reserved for the original pinstripe uniforms. Nothing will ever be as good as them or their blue cousins. But nothing will ever be as bad as the 2004-08 uniforms either.
Kudos to the Magic for having something distinguishing among the sleeved jerseys. But otherwise these are just the current version of the uniform in gray.