The National Basketball Association and Nike this morning officially released their 2020-2021 NBA City Edition jersey and uniform collection for all 30 of the NBA’s teams. These uniforms are all being worn as a fourth uniform option for each club and are slated to be replaced following the 2020-21 NBA season, and they all replace what clubs wore as their City uniforms last season (see those here)
As always, I provide a video version of this article which includes more photos and videos from all of the jerseys in here as well as a bit of history and commentary. Check that out below:
If you’re looking to buy any of these jerseys, well you’re in luck because they just went on sale this morning. You can shop and browse the entire 2021 City Edition collection here, including jerseys, hoodies, and shooting shirts.
Let’s begin…
ATLANTA HAWKS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Atlanta Hawks will honour the life and work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., born and raised in Atlanta. The Hawks partnered with the King Estate Foundation to create this uniform in Infinity Black, Vintage Gold, and Fidelity White with King’s initials “MLK” across the chest. King’s signature also appears in the lower left corner of the jersey. Proceeds from the sales of this jersey will go to support economic empowerment programs for Atlanta’s Communities of Color.
BOSTON CELTICS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
Having won the most championships of any team in the NBA, the Boston Celtics will wear a jersey designed to resemble the many championship banners that hang above the court at TD Garden. In the lower corner is Red Auerbach’s signature with a quote, “The Boston Celtics are not a basketball team, they are a way of life”.
BROOKLYN NETS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Brooklyn Nets are carrying on their theme of honouring a local artist with their City uniform. This time it’s Brooklyn-born Jean-Michel Basquiat who started out as a street artist in the 1970s before making a very successful transition to galleries in the 1980s. The jersey is black with “BKLYN NETS” across the front in white, several multi-coloured designs are featured along either side of the jersey as well as around the team wordmark on the chest in Basquiat’s style
CHARLOTTE HORNETS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
Did you know Charlotte was the home of the first U.S. Branch Mint? Well you do now, thanks to the Hornets new “mint” green city uniforms with gold and granite striping. This pays tribute to both that mint as well as the Carolina Gold Rush in the early 19th century. The gold carries on the theme of cash and riches but why granite? Well, granite is the state rock of the Hornets’ home state of North Carolina.
CHICAGO BULLS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Chicago Bulls are going black and gold in their tribute to the archetecture of their city. “CHICAGO” is written across the front in a typeface similar to that used on signage throughout the city along with the words “No Little Plans”, a quote from city planner Daniel Burnham who was instrumental in rebuilding Chicago following the great Chicago fire in the 1800s.
CLEVELAND CAVALIERS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Cavs are honouring their city’s status as the home of rock and roll with this ransom note style jersey this season. The Cleveland wordmark across the chest is made up of bits of the logos from several legendary rock bands and artists over the years such as David Bowie and Pink Floyd.
DALLAS MAVERICKS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
Dallas is marking the 10th anniversary of their 2011 championship with a gold, white, and silver uniform. The team name across the chest in gold, player number and name in silver, and up the side of the shorts are the wings of a pegasus, a nod to the mythological creature which has watched over the city of Dallas.
DENVER NUGGETS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Nuggets are finishing up their skyline uniform series with a new “Flatirons red” version of the design. Flatirons red was chosen as a reference to the State of Colorado’s landscape. The Nuggets originally wore a skyline across their jersey in a multi-coloured, almost “rainbow” style, from the early 1980s to early 1990s.
DETROIT PISTONS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
Detroit is famous for making automobiles, and apparently nothing else because once again they’re honouring the city’s history as “The Motor City”. Blue and red with a circular logo around the player number. The team says their uniform is “reminiscent of vintage auto emblems, bold highway-like striping, and gears surrounding the Pistons logo”
GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
Despite the fact they now play in San Francisco, the Warriors are showing their fans across the bay that they haven’t forgotten about them with these new “Oakland Forever” uniforms. The jerseys use the old Warriors uniform style worn in the early 2000s which featured a logo with a gold hurling a lightning bolt. It was occasionally a fun era for design. The Warriors played in Oakland for nearly 50 years before moving across the bridge in 2019.
HOUSTON ROCKETS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
Houston is going with an unusual colour for their team this year, it’s light blue which looks to be nod to the City of Houston’s flag. Across the chest in white with red trim is “H-Town”, an informal nickname for the city.
INDIANA PACERS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Pacers are throwing back for their City Uniform to a design very much inspired by their old pinstriped blue set worn from the late 1990s to 2006, including a trip to the 2000 NBA Finals. The seal of the state of Indiana is also thrown in there on the waistband of the shorts.
LA CLIPPERS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
It’s a simple re-colour of what the Clippers wore last year, what once was white is now black. The design was created in partnership with artist Mister Cartoon as well as graffiti artist Royyal Dog, celebrating the authentic spirit of LA street culture.
LOS ANGELES LAKERS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
Continuing with their “Lore” Series, the Lakers this year turn to honour Elgin Baylor, a Hall of Fame small forward who played for the Lakers starting with the club when they were still in Minnesota back in 1958 right up through 1971. The uniform is in the same blue and white colour scheme the Lakers, and Baylor wore until 1967 with some silver trim thrown in there.
MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES
2021 CITY UNIFORM
Another uniform based on a local artist, the Memphis Grizzlies are paying tribute to legendary singer-songwriter, and Memphis native Isaac Hayes. The uniform is black with gold and teal trim and incorporates Hayes’ signature in black in the lower left as well as his trademark sunglasses.
MIAMI HEAT
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Heat are ending their “Vice” series of uniforms with the Vice-Versa jersey. Originally conceived as a trip back through time to the Miami of the late 1980s and the neon signs that lit up the city’s nightlife. This extremely colourful uniform caps off four straight seasons of Vice uniforms for the Heat, with the first one introduced in 2017.
MILWAUKEE BUCKS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The name Milwaukee has a few different origins, Alice Cooper once famously told us it means “The Good Land”, but the Bucks are focusing on one of its other meanings, “The Gathering Place by the water” with their new lake and rivers-inspired all-blue uniforms. Three shades of blue, a wave running across the jersey, and reflective numbers for a very unfamiliar design for the usually green and cream Milwaukee Bucks.
MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES
2021 CITY UNIFORM
Minnesota is known as the “North Star State”, that’s how their old hockey team got their name after all, and these new Timberwolves uniforms pay tribute to that. A black jersey with a single green star placed above the abbreviated team name in silver. Several silver stars act as striping up the right side and continue down the shorts.
NEW ORLEANS PELICANS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Pelicans are taking the name City jersey to heart here and straight-up putting the flag of New Orleans across the entire uniform. Three horizontal bands of red, white, and blue and three gold fleur de lis across the chest. While the jersey has a blue stripe at the bottom, this won’t be seen during gameplay as it’ll be tucked into the shorts — the shorts have their own blue stripe at the very bottom of each leg.
NEW YORK KNICKS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
In a collaboration with New York-based fashion brand KITH, the New York Knicks will sport these bizarre black, orange, and blue gradient rich uniforms on occasion in 2021. The chest features a circular logo with the phrase “CITY NEVER SLEEPS” above the team name
OKLAHOMA CITY THUNDER
2021 CITY UNIFORM
A celebration of the state of Oklahoma, the Thunder will wear these blue, orange, and black diagonally striped uniforms this season. Oklahoma across the front is in a similar style as the state flag, the state map is on the waistband of the shorts, and UNITE is written in the lower left to challenge themselves to reach further and aim higher together.
ORLANDO MAGIC
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Magic are wearing another orange themed uniform for their City Edition set in 2021. The pinstripes and star are a throwback to the Magic’s past uniforms dating back to the late 1980s while also updating the look to include the colour orange to represent the bright future of tomorrow. The orange is a nod to the sunshine and the citrus industry, both synonymous with the state of Florida.
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The 76ers are back in black and you have Ben Simmons to thank for it. A couple of years back Simmons tweeted his wish for a return to black uniforms, the team responded with a challenge… win the rookie of the year and you’ll get your wish. Well, we all know what happened. The design here is inspired by the houses along Philadelphia’s Boathouse Row as well as a throwback to the Allen Iverson era uniforms from the late 1990s. And yes, that’s a TTP hidden in there for the team motto of “Trust the Process”
PHOENIX SUNS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Suns are looking beyond the city of Phoenix for their City uniform, instead they’ll be honouring the entire metropolitan area sometimes referred to as the Valley of the Sun. The uniform is black with a purple, red, and orange pixelated sunrise slash sunset over the Arizona desert and Camelback Mountain. “The Valley” is scrawled across the chest in white.
PORTLAND TRAIL BLAZERS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Trail Blazers are celebrating the Spirit of Oregon, the beauty of its landscape, as well as the tribal nations who have called the land their home since the beginning. The uniforms are black with Oregon scripted across the front, directly from a sign which shines in Old Town Portland. A topographic map makes up the base of the jersey and a series of colourful stripes, representing the colours of a sunset over the mountains, run up the side. A portion of the net proceeds from jersey sales will be donated to the Native American Youth and Family Center by the Trail Blazers and Biofreeze
SACRAMENTO KINGS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
What happens if you mix together a bunch of different uniforms from a team’s history? You get the Sacramento Kings’ new City Uniform. A trip through the team’s visual history, it’s a mashup of their original 1980s powder blue set with their infamous checkerboard jersey in the 90s and their all-black road set of the 2000s topped off by the SACTOWN lettering from their 2019 City jersey.
SAN ANTONIO SPURS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
A wonderful tribute to their fiesta logo era, the San Antonio Spurs are breathing much-needed life into their black and silver look with the inclusion of teal, pink, and orange. The Spurs never wore these colours on their uniforms back in the day but it was present on their logos and worn on shooting shirts and merchandise throughout the 1990s.
TORONTO RAPTORS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Toronto Raptors are again working with their most famous fan Drake by sporting a black and gold uniform, inspired by the colour scheme of his OVO fashion brand. The uniform features Toronto across the chest in the team’s original typeface style along with a jagged line across the chest as well as across the shorts representing the scratch of a raptor’s claw. We can all celebrate the team wearing a uniform with Toronto across the front even if they’ll be playing far far away in Tampa, Florida this season. We The South.
UTAH JAZZ
2021 CITY UNIFORM
The Jazz, who were the only team to wear the same City Edition uniform in consecutive seasons, have finally changed things up… but not much. A simple re-coloured version of their previous City look, now black, still a tribute to the red-rock of the state of Utah, a gradient from yellow to orange to red before giving way to the black of the base of the set.
WASHINGTON WIZARDS
2021 CITY UNIFORM
Few things go hand-in-hand quite like the Washington Wizards and disappointing City uniforms, and that continues here in 2021. The Wizards are going grey with the team’s DC alternate logo on the chest and a stars and stripes pattern up either side of both the jersey and the shorts. There it is.
Thanks for checking out our coverage of this, again, if you’re looking to buy any of these jerseys, well you’re in luck because they just went on sale this morning. You can shop and browse the entire 2021 City Edition collection here, including jerseys, hoodies, and shooting shirts.
You can also see our full coverage of all the new NBA logos and uniforms for 2021, not just City Edition stuff, right here.
Related stories:
Back in Black and Gold… Again, Raptors Unveil 2021 City Uniform 
Nuggets Reveal New “Flatiron Red” Skyline Uniform, Their Last 
Pelicans Raise the Flag With New 2021 City Uniforms 
Bulls Reveal City Uniform, A Tribute to Art Deco 
Sixers Unveil New Black Uniform, Simmons Gets His Wish 
Photos of LA Lakers New “Classic” Jersey for 2021 Leaks 
LEAK! Photos of the New 2021 Toronto Raptors Uniform 
Return of the Pinstripes! Charlotte Hornets Unveil New Uniforms
