He NBA is known for allowing its teams to take some risks with alternative kits and as such the City Edition 2024-25 range of shirts was revealed on Thursday. There were some grand slams in the group, but others flopped.
The reigning champion Boston Celtics had one of the most disappointing innings of the City Edition. Their modern twist on an iconic jersey just didn’t work, and the same can be said for the New York Knicks.
On the other end of the spectrum, teams like the Toronto Raptors and Utah Jazz gave the people what they wanted with different versions of popular designs. Then the Memphis Grizzlies and Detroit Pistons came up with some truly unique and stylish jerseys that should fly off the shelves in those cities.
Let’s see who stood out, for better or worse, with the ranking of the 2024-25 City Edition jerseys.
30. Boston Celts
After the franchise’s 18th NBA title, is this the direction we’re going with the City Edition uniforms? Without a doubt, that is a choice. The Celtics have one of the most iconic looks in all of sports, so creating an alternative will always be a challenge, but the modern, neon green font is not a winner. In the meantime, let’s put some yellow highlighter on the next Bruins sweater.
At first glance, I was puzzled by what the Bulls were going for here, then I read that these jerseys celebrate the 30th anniversary of the United Center. That made a little more sense, but it would have been cool to see this jersey pay some sort of tribute to the legendary team that won three straight titles in the arena.
Minnesota gets a lot of snow and ice. That seems to be what this shirt boils down to, and the sheer amount of white space is a little infuriating.
Miami could have come up with some really interesting options, but this looks like a slogan or a bumper sticker plastered on a red t-shirt. I admire Heat Culture as much as the next person, but this look pales in comparison to other City Edition uniforms.
Bring back the wizard. I just want to see a bearded wizard with a basketball on a t-shirt. Washington has a unique mascot and chooses not to rely on it.
This design doesn’t work for me, but I want to give credit to the Nets for providing the City Edition jersey to local artist KAWS. This look definitely stands out from other jerseys, but it doesn’t move the needle for this server.
24. New York Knicks
Like the Celtics, coming up with an alternate jersey when the original is nearly perfect is a difficult task for the Knicks. While I like this better than the Celtics City Edition skin, it still falls flat. The double “New York” on top of the pinstripes is too much.
When I think of the Orlando Magic, I don’t necessarily think of an “armored texture base” and a “gothic font.” There’s too much going on here, and much of it is a dull gray.
Maybe I’m getting old, but few things about this shirt work for me. I don’t care about the font and the color scheme is a downgrade from the team’s traditional colors.
I don’t love that the nickname “LakeShow” is on the shirt. Using “Showtime” might have been the best option, but it may not have been available. Forgive me. I’m not familiar with the legal ins and outs of television networks.
From afar, the box inside the Rip City logo seemed to be a really nice touch, but then I realized that the box seemed to run the entire length of the shirt, from top to bottom. At least the Trail Blazers leaned on those Portland roots.
The Pacific Blue base color is a nice touch here, but the rest of the shirt doesn’t really stand out to me. That said, this is clearly a cut above the t-shirts below.
The Nuggets took a big swing here, while I’m not entirely sure they hit for a home run, I can certainly appreciate the effort. The color scheme is really nice and I like the image of the Rocky Mountains on the 5280. I’m just not sure I like the 5280 right above the player’s number. Maybe it would rank higher if the colors were used on the bottom of the jersey somehow.
This is a perfectly good, harmless NBA jersey, and it ends up in a perfectly average spot on this list.
The Rockets are paying tribute to their back-to-back NBA championships in 1994 and 1995 with a City Edition jersey, and I have mixed feelings. I like the idea of trying to make it look like a championship banner, but the H-town logo distracts from that concept.
This one has some great elements, but do they all come together perfectly? I’m not so sure. I like the western font and I like the homage to the 1995 All-Star Game uniforms. Those two elements just don’t fit from my perspective.
I like the color scheme here, and using the state border as a stripe is a cool concept. On paper this doesn’t match other top tier jerseys, but I could see it looking great in game action.
These t-shirts pay homage to the Cleveland Museum of Art and feature “color by numbers” on the side panel. Those two things, along with the font, make this an interesting concept. It just doesn’t hold up well next to the best looks in this ranking.
IMHO this is a slightly worse version of the 2023-24 City Edition kit, which also featured this logo. The team mentioned that this look was partially inspired by local legend Leon Bridges, so they get points for that.
The Hornets can continue to run looking perfect and it will work for me every time. It is not necessary to fix what is not broken. This is a stylish t-shirt.
At first glance, I didn’t love this shirt, but it has grown on me as I have progressed through these rankings. The “Heritage Blue” and the “Buttery Brown” are a good combination and the whole thing has a cool throwback feel to it.
Some might think this is too simple, but I think it comes down to less being more, especially compared to some of its City Edition counterparts. This is just a clean look with a classic color combination.
The Pelicans have an unfair advantage being in New Orleans and they make the most of it in this one. The “herringbone” pattern is cool and the whole thing has a voodoo feel to it.
The Warriors took a similar approach to the Kings. Don’t do too much, give a few nods to the city and incorporate a tried and true color scheme. I think that worked for both teams, but especially for the Warriors.
6. Utah Jazz
As a child of the 90s, I think of these mountains when I think of Jazz. This looks fine to me and the revamped purple color scheme works really well.
This is just a very clean throwback to the 76ers jerseys of the early ’70s, and it looks fantastic. Philadelphia didn’t overcomplicate things, which is more than can be said for the Phillies’ latest City Connect uniforms.
4. San Antonio Spurs
Everything about this Spurs jersey hits the right note. The font, the color scheme highlighting the Talavera tiles, and the shadows behind the numbers all combine to give San Antonio a unique look in the best way possible.
3. Toronto Raptors
This t-shirt features a velociraptor performing Vince Carter’s iconic dunk in the 2000 NBA All-Star Game. Need I say more?
2. Detroit Pistons
This is one of the few City Edition jerseys that should be considered the new full-time look. These uniforms honor back-to-back NBA titles in 1989 and 1990, but have the perfect amount of modern feel and the “bone” base color really sets them apart.
1. Memphis Grizzlies
These jerseys were number 1 with a bullet, just on a level of their own. The Grizzlies wanted to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the ABA’s Memphis Sounds with these, and that’s what they did. In fact, they may have done too good a job because I’m starting a movement to change the team’s name permanently.
