Orlando Magic’s fourth jersey may be going to space

Everyone is waiting for Nike and the NBA to reveal each team’s fourth “community-inspired” jersey. The Orlando Magic’s jersey is certainly out there.

Earlier this year, the UCF Knights introduced their alternate “space” uniform to honor Central Florida’s contribution to the space program and astronomy.

The jerseys were largely a hit. The moon was inlaid inside the UCF logo and constellations were made part of the striping for the helmet. There were some other great details paying homage to Central Florida and NASA.

It was a perfect fit. And Nike had a hit.

If Conrad Burry of SportsLogos.net is to be believed, Nike is going to try and do it again with the Orlando Magic. If the mock-ups are to be believed. . . this one will not go over as well.

In one of the most outlandish designs leaked by SportsLogos.net, the Magic’s jersey will play off the Central Florida space theme.

It will feature the Magic’s primary logo (minus the Orlando part) and the usual number font set against a black jersey. Well, it is not exactly black. The jerseys base design is a nebula. The Magic’s jersey is essentially set against the image from a telescope.

It is . . . an interesting decision.

The NBA has yet to release the fourth of their Nike jerseys for this year. They are supposed to be a representation of the cities for each team. They are “community inspired” as the press release stated.

This is not an official jersey. As Burry notes, he is only 25 percent sure on the design. But much of the other elements are confirmed. It seems like the wording and the jersey color are confirmed. There may be other elements that are not the same as this.

Otherwise, who knows if this is the actual design for the Magic’s fourth jersey.

Speculation about what the jerseys might look like has run rampant. For every team.

For the Magic, everyone imagined it might look something similar to the original throwback jerseys — classic pinstripes with the classic font. Several local graphic designers have used that font to spell out Orlando. Including using the star as an ‘A.’

The other going thought was the community-inspired jerseys would hue close to the adidas “Pride” jerseys. The Magic might stick with their gray jerseys (minus the sleeves) with some Nike tweaks. Or they might do a design similar to the black “stars” jerseys they wore last year.

It appears the team is going in neither direction. They are going . . . where no jersey has gone before.

In reality, this jersey might look better when it is on fabric than it does on a screenshot or mock-up. The design is bolder than some of the other reported designs for the fourth jersey.

As a reminder, none of the mock-ups are official. There may be some things that will change.

Among the designs SportsLogos.net has revealed there are plenty of expected designs and plenty of outlandish designs. This is where the league is seeing Nike flex some creative muscle. And they certainly tried to do that with the Magic jersey if this is the case.

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The good news for those that hate this design? Nike reportedly plans to change the fourth jersey — whatever they call it — every year.