NBA Unveils Christmas Jerseys: No Sleeves, First Name on Back

This year’s edition of the NBA Christmas jersey has just been unveiled, via a posting on the NBA’s official Instagram account.

The uniforms are… wait for it… NOT sleeved. We’re not sure if this is a mistake or if the league has finally decided to scale back on their love of the oft-criticized look.

For the most part, jersey designs are the same as each team’s usual uniform with the noted exception of the team logo on the chest rather than the team name. This gives us a look similar to the failed Nike college basketball design experiment back in 2000, that look was scrapped quickly after just one year.

On the backs of the jersey we have the player name placed below the number on alternate colour “nameplate”, the uniforms will display the players first names rather than their last… which works well for a name like LeBron James or Kobe Bryant, not so much for Tim Duncan or Chris Paul (not that Chris is a bad name or anything)

There will be five games played on Christmas Day this season:

Washington Wizards at New York Knicks
Oklahoma City Thunder at San Antonio Spurs
Cleveland Cavaliers at Miami Heat
Los Angeles Lakers at Chicago Bulls
Golden State Warriors at Los Angeles Clippers

You can see the full collection at the NBA shop here.