The 2024 NBA Finals pits the Boston Celtics against the Dallas Mavericks. The Celtics are looking to win their 18th NBA championship all-time and once again become the franchise with the most NBA titles (they are currently tied with the Lakers); the Celtics last won in 2008, which was their only title in the past 38 years. The Mavs, a much younger franchise than the Celtics, are taking part in just their third NBA Finals, having won once previously in 2011.
The NBA’s Lockervision site released the uniform schedule for the first four games of the 2024 NBA Finals. Let’s take a look:
The first two games of the series are in Boston, and the host Celtics have opted to go with their classic whites for Game One, with Dallas countering with their City Edition set. The second game is when the Celtics try something different, wearing their black “Statement” uniforms up against the Mavs white “Association” uniform.
LINK: History of the NBA Finals logo
When the series shifts to Dallas, the Celtics will continue to wear their white “Association” uniforms while Dallas wears their navy blue “Statement” uniforms for both Games Three and Four.
The matchups for Games 5, 6, and 7 were not posted to the Lockervision site, but the Mavericks volunteered their wardrobe choices for those three:
We’ll see the white “Association” uniforms again in Game 5 (my guess is Boston will likely wear their green “Icon” uniforms for this one). Dallas wears their “City Edition” set for Games 6 and 7, which means Boston will probably go back to the white Association set.
The Mavericks uniform schedule shows the team can only clinch wearing a “traditional” team uniform if they win in five. A sweep will see them win while wearing their alternate “Statement” set; a win in six or seven will have them take the title in their one-year-only “City Edition” uniform.
Boston is tougher to analyze as we only know for sure what they’ll wear for a clincher if they end up sweeping Dallas—that would be their white “Association” set. Knowing Dallas’ uniforms for Games 6 and 7 suggests we could see the Celtics win it in their whites if they take it in those; the only real question mark is whether we’d see Boston wear their green or black unis for that one if the Celtics win in 5.
The Boston Celtics were 22-6 when wearing their white uniforms during the 2023-24 regular season and 3-1 during the 2024 NBA Playoffs. While wearing black, they were 13-3 in the regular season and 5-0 in the playoffs.
Dallas was 7-7 in the regular season and 3-0 in the playoffs when wearing the black “City Edition” uniforms. In white, they were 17-13 during the season and 4-1 in the playoffs. Finally, in their navy blue “Statement” set, they were 20-7 in the regular season and a less impressive 5-5 in the playoffs.
UPDATE: (June 17/24) The Boston Celtics will wear their green Icon uniforms for Game 5 on Monday night in Boston. As noted earlier, the Mavs will counter with their white “Association” set.