Thunder Unveil 2018-19 “City Edition” Uniforms

It’s Nike’s second year as the NBA’s uniform provider and we are finally getting an official look at the second installment of “City Edition” alternates. The Thunder unveiled their new look Thursday morning featuring a new logo/icon and strong Native American ties.

In a video tweeted by the Thunder, Carson Brown (Graphic Design – Nike) explains the design:

“The thought was to create some type of Native American background, bringing that into it to tell the story of the Native heritage in and around Oklahoma City.”

The uniforms debut a new icon and take a slight turn away from Thunder blue, going with turquoise instead. Carson explains the choice, saying: “The turquoise color is the 11th anniversary stone. And it’s pretty important to native culture because it’s also the color of friendship.”

I was a bit skeptical after leaked images showed the stripe down the middle of the jersey, but Carson and the team at Nike deliver a pretty cool explanation: “And then we have the stripe here, which is the Oklahoma River. We have the zig-zag that’s kind of the bridges merging the two colors together. The stripe points east, and east is a very important direction in Native culture.”

If I’ve learned anything in the past 10+ years of Thunder basketball, it’s that a lot of people are going to love new uniforms and plenty of people are going to hate them as well. Whether you like the new design or not, it’s clear the Thunder went in an awesome direction honoring the rich Native American heritage we have in the state of Oklahoma.

If you haven’t already, check out the video from the Thunder explaining the design behind the new threads:

According to the Thunder, the new uniforms will be available for purchase on November 9. OKC will wear the jerseys for the first time November 14th, at home vs. the New York Knicks. More details available here.