The Los Angeles Lakers and all 30 NBA teams have unveiled their City Edition uniforms for the 2022-23 season.
Ever since the NBA switched sponsorships to Nike, each team has come up with numerous jersey designs to wear throughout the season. The City Edition series allows teams to get creative, coming up with designs and colors that wouldn’t otherwise be affiliated with their organization.
The Lakers have typically used their City Edition series to give a chance to franchise legends to design uniforms of their choosing featuring “elements emblematic of our history and city.” That started with Kobe Bryant creating the “Black Mamba” jerseys while other Lakers legends like Magic Johnson, Shaquille O’Neal and Elgin Baylor have also gotten their crack at it.
This year is a little different though as the Lakers did not turn to a former player to design their City Edition jerseys.
Instead, according to the team, these white and purple jerseys with some black mixed in were “intentionally stripped back” to represent “how to transform a blank page into a world of possibility.” The phrase “Leave A Legacy” can be found above the size tag, which has become a slogan for the Lakers organization over the years.
Additionally, the Lakers also said that this is the first time “Los Angeles” has been on the front of a uniform since the 1960s while adding that they are “calling on the changemakers of the city to represent us and represent something bigger than us” to pay homage to the city and hometown fans. They also noted that the “concentric circle design symbolizes bringing all of Los Angeles together.”
When Lakers will debut City Edition uniforms
The Lakers will only wear their City Edition uniforms a handful of times this season although they are expected to debut them on Sunday night against the Brooklyn Nets. The Lakers will likely be without star LeBron James in that game after suffering a left adductor strain in a recent loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. James is considered day-to-day but the expectation is he will miss at least a couple of games, which means fans will have to wait to see No. 6 in the new uniforms.
L.A.’s new City Edition jerseys as well as other merchandise are already available for purchase in the NBA’s online shop for those that are interested.
