Lakers, Sixers Among 5 NBA “Mixtape” Jersey Leaks for 2021-22

Is it really NBA leak season already?

Five new “Mixtape” uniforms (yes, “Mixtape”) leaked over the past few weeks, let’s go through them one team at a time…

But first. “Mixtape”.

According to my good friend Reliable Sources, in honour of the NBA’s 75th anniversary season the Association will be doing away with their annual “City Edition” uniforms (just for one year). Instead, we’ll be seeing the new one-year-only “Mixtape Edition” uniforms, a mashup of several different uniforms, logos, and colours over the course of each franchise’s design history.

I mean, in concept that sounds like an idea that we all can get behind. In practice? Well, let’s take a peek at how that’s going…

DALLAS MAVERICKS

The Mavericks had two different photos of their new Mixtape uniforms leak out, one from a team photo shoot and another from a “shirsey” spotted already available for sale.

The design looks to combine the above 1980-91 road jersey “Dallas” wordmark and colour scheme with the cowboy hat logo of that era with the uniform layout of the modern team. The wordmark is presented straight (as the team has done since 2001) instead of arched as it was originally, with the number below and off to the right (again as has been done since 2001). Up the side of the uniform is a solid stripe, hard to tell at this resolution, which again would be a nod to the current uniform design style.

INDIANA PACERS

The Indiana Pacers 2021-22 Mixtape uniform leak is just a “shirsey” so we’re missing a lot of details here, but we at least can get a look at the main characters.

Across the front of the jersey is the “Pacers” wordmark in the style of what they wore (seen above) from 1985 to 1990, this is shown on an angled gold and white stripe which mimicks the design that ran up the side of the uniforms worn from 1990 to 1997. The number font looks to be similar to what the team uses today, first debuting in 2017, though presented in italics as the numbers once did, again, from 1990-97.

LOS ANGELES LAKERS

Here’s one we first saw a few months ago but now returns in an image of much higher quality. The Los Angeles Lakers “Mixtape” uniform is a mashup of their “Forum Blue” (purple) era from 1967-present with the baby blue and white era that immediately preceeded it from 1958-67.

Jersey base is purple with blue and white trim, on either side of the player number are two stars, a feature of the Lakers uniforms from 1958 to 1960.

MINNESOTA TIMBERWOLVES

Minnesota is using their original royal blue and green colour scheme as they did from 1989 to 1996. The “Wolves” wordmark across the front here is the same font style as what they wore from 1997-2008 but now with just the “Wolves” half of the logo (a practice they began in 2009, see below) and presented straight instead of arched, a style in use since 2017.

Pine trees decorate the collar trim around the neck and arms, a nod to a similar style worn from 1996 to 2010. Up each side of the jersey are a series of diagonal lines which the club wore on their City Edition uniform during the 2017-18 season.

PHILADELPHIA 76ERS

The Philadelphia 76ers are taking the “Sixers” jersey wordmark used from 1971 to ’76 now straight (as it was from ’97 to ’09) rather than arched. The base colour is a dark navy blue with red/white/blue trim around the neck and sleeves, similar to what was worn during their first two seasons in Philadelphia in 1963-64 and 1964-65.

An interesting addition to this uniform, something not previously worn by the franchise, is the red, orange, and green blocks running up the side. This is from the court design used by 76ers during their time at ye olde Spectrum (photo above), and what you can’t see in the photo above is a blue fourth block which should slide in directly under the green. This element has gotten mixed reaction from Twitter thus far but I think it’s a great nod to a forgotten, yet important, design element of Philadelphia 76ers history.

I alluded to this earlier in the Lakers portion of the story but a few months ago we saw five other Mixtape leaks (graphic above), you can read our recap of each of those leaks here.