LA Lakers Unveil New ‘Classic’ Edition Jersey

[Editor’s Note: Paul is on his annual August break from site (although he’s still writing his weekly Bulletin column and may pop up here on the blog occasionally). Deputy editor Phil Hecken is in charge from now through the end of the month.]

Good morning, Uni Watchers. I hope everyone had a good Monday.

Yesterday was a relatively yuge day for uniform watching, as the Cubs and Reds unveiled uniforms for their “Field of Dreams” game this Thursday (I updated yesterday’s earlier post with lots of new photos and information, so if you didn’t see the updated version, you should check it out), and over in the NBA, the Golden State Warriors unveiled a throwback “classic” edition uniform set as well.

Also yesterday, the Los Angeles Lakers unveiled their own “classic” edition uniform jersey. In honor of their 75th season, the jersey harkens back to the Lakers days in Minneapolis.

It’s a beautiful jersey. It’s also a bit of a hybrid of the uniforms they wore from 1948-1951 and 1951-1958. The jersey itself is white, with gold and powder blue trim around the neck and arm hems, the word “LAKERS” in slightly arched vertically aligned letters, and a small front uniform number, both rendered in powder blue.

Here’s a closeup of the wordmark (which unfortunately focuses almost as much on the makers mark and the advertiser):

When I mention the jersey is a hybrid, it’s because the team have blended two eras (as mentioned above). Here’s a look at the 1947-1951 uniform:

That jersey and pants featured no gold elements, with “LAKERS” and front uni number rendered in powder blue. Small powder blue piping was present around the arm and neck, and the shorts also had thin blue piping down the sides and at the hem. Pants were belted. Here’s how the original jersey looked:

The uniform the team wore from 1951 through 1958 featured additional gold striping around the arm/neck, as well as on the pants, and the wordmark and number were both in powder blue, outlined in gold. Those pants had a drawstring waistband which was in powder blue as well.

So the new “classic” jersey takes the gold/powder elements of the later Minneapolis jersey, while the wordmark and uni number more closely resemble the 1948-1951 jersey.

According to the NBA, “In honor of their 75th season, the Los Angeles Lakers have unveiled a Classic Edition jersey that recreates the team’s first-ever home uniform in a nod to the franchise’s journey from the Midwest to the West.” This is not quite correct, as the jersey is more of a mashup of the two early Minneapolis jerseys.

I’d love to show you pictures of the full uniform, or at least the shorts — but as far as I can tell, the team hasn’t released any. If you clicked on that NBA link above, you’ll note another link for additional photos. Those can be found here. That gallery spends more time focusing on the makers mark and advertiser than on showing the full uniform. The only photo I could find showing the shorts was a closeup:

Shockingly, the promos for this focused almost solely on the retail element of the uniform. But we do know what the uniforms will look like, since the Lakers did post this…

That trio of course is LeBron James, former star George Mikan, and Anthony Davis. I’m not sure if the waistband will be powder blue, but we can see powder blue stripes running down the sides, with a blue/gold stripe on the hem (matching the stripe pattern on the jerseys). The pants closeup shown above confirms this.

This is a gorgeous looking jersey (and I’m sure the pants, when fully revealed, will be as well). I’m looking forward to seeing it on the court.

Your thoughts?