For the first time since their relocation to Oklahoma, the Western Conference Champion Oklahoma City Thunder have unveiled a new jersey, the new uniform will make its on-court debut tonight against the Detroit Pistons.
Navy blue with a vertical design and striping, the uniform is radically different in design from either the Thunder home and road jerseys but does still maintain the font from the regular set.
Montage of new OKC Thunder alternate jersey, from their Facebook page
The shorts have an “Oklahoma City” scripted wordmark on the back near the waistband to “provide a classic, yet modern, application” and the “OKC” spelled out vertically along the side “embraces the organic and loyal support of the fans who chant those letter during home games.”
What stands out the most from this design is the presentation of the jersey script on the front of the uniform, the team says it “demonstrates strength and illustrates the rising nature of our team and community”. The Thunder also refer to this design as “unique” regardless of the fact the Cincinnati Royals used a very similar design in the 1970s.
The “swingman” version of the jersey available for sale at NBAThunderShop.com
The team added that “the minimalist design and clean lines are timeless and reflect the personality of our industrious, hard-working, proud and committed community”.
In other words they had a design and then came up with reasons for the various elements after the fact.
The “OKC” and blue/white version of their alternate logo seen on the shorts
The third jersey will be worn for the following games. Note that 10 of the 12 are road games as the NBA only allows a team to wear dark alternates at home twice per season:
November 9th vs Detroit Pistons (Home Game)
December 4th at Brooklyn Nets
December 20th at Minnesota Timberwolves
December 31st vs Phoenix Suns (Home Game)
January 7th at Washington Wizards
January 18th at Dallas Mavericks
January 27th at Los Angeles Lakers
February 12th at Utah Jazz
March 1st at Denver Nuggets
March 11th at San Antonio Spurs
April 5th at Indiana Pacers
April 11th at Golden State Warriors
The new uniform is available for purchase now online at NBAThunderShop.com or in person at the Chesapeake Energy Arena in OKC.
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Chris Creamer is the founder of SportsLogos.Net and has been maintaining it since June 1997. You can follow him on Twitter at @sportslogosnet or contact him via email at ccreamer@sportslogos.net
Dave Giff
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:29ugly.
Andreas Scheunemann
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:30Hate it!
Ricardo Almonte
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:33Whoa! Unbelievably hideous!
Craig Michaels
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:33I swear sports teams have ADHD.
mnj
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:34I dig it, aesthetic-wise the Thunder are starting to find their own identity
Michael Bernstein
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:41what is the point of these? they look like they were thrown together in 5 minutes
FUBLU
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 15:10@ Michael Bernstein: You Ain't Neva Lied!!! In the words of The Chuckster... Turrible!
Kyle Baker
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:44as a fan of the Thunder, I am disappointed. would have rather seen an orange "OKC" one.
Troy Riley
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:44Sometimes. less is more. Many times, less is ridiculous.
Michael Metros
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:45Looks very ABA
Ben Fortney
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:50I dig the design, unis in general need more vertical type, but the color is too bland. Some red, some yellow maybe? Why not?
wolfgangII
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 18:25Having five colors in their regular uniforms, I guess the wanted to try a monochromatic style.
Martin
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 10:55I have seen a picture of an all-orange new york knicks alternate jersey. will there be one???
Rob S.
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 11:13As Michael B says "What is the point of these"? They already have very nice uniforms.This alternate doesn't fit in at all w/their colors..Plus they are not very appealing anyway.No reason for these!
David A.
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 11:16Dear Oklahoma City Thunder: The 1977 Portland Trail Blazers just called. They want their jersey design back.
kodrinsky
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 12:14I would said the Cincinnati Royals, instead: http://mdsportsconnection.com/images/basketball/PBK0415a_500.jpg
Chris Creamer
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 12:38So would have I, in the article, in those bits in-between the pretty pictures.
David A.
Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 18:07True, but the way the jersey looks, the Trail Blazers' uni reference made a little more sense. http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Authentic-Mitchell-And-Ness-Throwback-Portland-Trailblazers-Bill-Walton-Jersey-/00/s/MTAwMFg5OTk=/$T2eC16FHJGYE9nooiKhuBQ(N98KV)Q~~60_35.JPG
Aaron
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 11:19Not bad, but could use a little more colour though. I kind of expected either a navy or orange jersey saying OKC at the front. Perhaps the Sacramento Kings should implement this style to their thirds.
Nick Rodriguez
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 11:20Wow! That's really bad...but then again the NBA has some of worst uniforms in all of the big 4! Terrible! Ba Baseball has the best!!!!!
David Pham
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 11:27Dont get it. It doesnt go with any color scheme the team has. Orange or something. This might piss off Seattle fans but pay homage and go green and yellow. You are the holders of their history.
John Burlie
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 11:32It kind of looks like a faux back. I don't hate it, they used basic colors, it's original and it isn't cluttered.. isn't that what everyone wants? Then make up your minds. The Thunder have way too much colors anyway, only using 2 looks fine.
SplashBoogie
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 11:46Very clean. OKC's identity has too many colors and too much going on at once (even though I'm used to it now) but I could see this working with a tweak here (use your actual blue) and there (maybe make those side stripes gold or orange)
Arthur Malkin
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 12:23The similar Cincinnati Royals jersey was great and would be an all-time classic if it were not for the demise of the franchise. It certainly deserved a better fate. Not impressed with the Thunder alternate though. Would have rather seen the revival of the Royals had the team moved to Anaheim.
David Streeter
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 12:26Barf!
Scott Jacobs
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 12:30Stupid, uninspired, unrelated to their identity, bland (o look another navy jersey... this team has a myriad of colors and an OKC wordmark that would have been perfect and they settle on this? Total crapola
Brad Joiner
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 12:37Looks like the old Cincinnati Royals.
Aaron
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 14:00All the more reason the Sacramento Kings should use this style for their alternates. Regardless of where they play next year.
Aaron Masik
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 13:19OKC deserves better
Brian Castner
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 13:26Just as bad as the new one the Spurs have. And look at all the room on both of them for advertising in a few years. UGH!
ingmar66
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 14:11The NBA and adidas: an uniform design relationship made in hell. This looks so lame it hurts.
ingmar66
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 14:17Just checked the Thunder site: the replica looks even worse, with the vertical stripes not running the entire length of the shirt. who wants to wear this kind of crap? OKC fans deserve better looking uniforms for their team (and for themselves to wear). But no, the crazy Bavarians and the greedy moneybags from the League have decided otherwise.
Andy O'Leary
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 14:40It's always painful whenever a new-ish team tries making up a faux "retro" uniform. Anyone remember the Marlins' fake Turn Back the Clock uniforms about a decade back?
Jeti Mar
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 14:40@David Pham, they don't own the Sonic history. They gave that up as part of the relocation. And as for this alty, terrible.
Jeti Mar
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 14:40@David Pham, they don't own the Sonic history. They gave that up as part of the relocation. And as for this alty, terrible.
Marcus Jackson
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 15:01I didn't think that the uniform would lack the lighter shade of blue. I think both blues the Thunder uses should've been included.
Bryan W
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 15:27Awful. Don't like them one bit. Too simple, and the striping and lettering is just awkward to look at. I was hoping for an orange jersey, without.... that.
Leighto
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 15:28Looks like they wanted to have one that would off-set Miami's Black and White ones
Joe G.
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 15:32It's ok, but if they ditched the lines and made "Thunder" go across the jersey, it may look better...but I don't think it's that bad, the lines are my biggest problem.
Brandon B.
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 16:52Ugly. I'm sorry, but I think it would've been better if they had an all orange "OKC" style. Am I right?
Jed
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 17:18Who the hell came up with these jerseys as these have to be one of the worst uniforms I have ever laid eyes on. Is this a joke? I mean, this is the best their marketing department came up with for an alternate look? Burn these!
Bill A
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 18:12FAIL.
madpanda
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 19:23"Hello Brooklyn? We're sorry, but can you give us that 'Worst Uniform in NBA' Award back? We just got a new entry..."
Andrew
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 23:08Probably the worst NBA uniforms ever made. Just awful. And we're seriously comparing these with Brooklyn?? There's absolutely nothing wrong with Brooklyn. Those uniforms are nice.
FJOJR
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 23:25If they went with the vertical script and striping, then why didn't they have the shorts carry the design down. Also no reason to put OKC and the secondary logo both on there. Kinda something akin to the Miami Floridians jerseys but missing the mark in terms of placement of elements.
Aaron
Friday, November 9, 2012 at 23:46Here's some ways of improving this jersey... The jersey should be orange. The stripe where it says Thunder should be light blue with navy outline. You're probably thinking improving? Est-ce tu fou? At least this way, the jersey will have more colour.
Paul Pelkonen
Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 00:31This is an improvement...but to really fix it they should switch to green and yellow, move back to Seattle and call the team the "SuperSonics."
Dante
Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 11:41The teams needs a cleaner color scheme anyway. Their main jerseys are almost the worst in the league (Washington.) Keep the blue/make it match the blue in the Oklahoma flag, add in a color or two from elements of the flag or Oklahoma culture, and bam! Better color scheme. I like that they added this navy as an alternate, but the vertical design is terrible. There are too many reaches into the past in the NBA.
Aaron
Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 13:59Didn't they already add those flag elements to the logo and uniforms?
Nathan
Saturday, November 10, 2012 at 12:17If the Thunder were in the 70's/80's mixed with today style
Max
Sunday, November 11, 2012 at 18:43problem with nba- this jersey is really only worn on the road. they should wear it at home when they play teams with different colored red or yellow jerseys, like the lakers or trail blazers. colored jerseys on both teams would look great (a la Euro soccer)
F19
Monday, November 12, 2012 at 11:20Ugh really bad. Par for the course I suppose for the worst identity package in the NBA.
Toby Faber
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 at 17:59Can't tell the Thunder apart from the Knicks, which is probably why the Knicks altered their unis this year, and the Thunder added these.
Tom
Thursday, December 20, 2012 at 20:16Wow..you guys got bad taste. Not the best jersey in the NBA but it is much better looking then their Home/Away jersey. I hope they keep it or get rid of the sky blue on their Home/Away jersey. My top favorite NBA jerseys are Utah, San Antonio and Toronto.
Maggie
Saturday, January 26, 2013 at 18:22Horrid. L.A.M.E. Terribly disappointing and sooo boring. I would expect more from a team that's so exciting to watch.