The NBA All-Star Game is being hosted in Charlotte this year, but you would barely know it based on the jerseys that were leaked on Tuesday. Where we saw New Orleans sport fleur-de-lis on their All-Star renditions while Los Angeles went for a more monochromatic look, the Charlotte-hosted game is going for a similar look -- only with red white and blue piping and stars down the sides.
Here's the leaked image from Twitter user @JosmanSuri (Chris Creamer of SportsLogos and Paul Lukas of UniWatch later confirmed the legitimacy of the leak):
@BleacherReport @BR_NBA @darrenrovell @UniWatch nba all star 2019 jerseys at Nike KL pic.twitter.com/Stbjp5pl8d
— Josman Suri (@JosmanSuri) January 15, 2019
If you look further near the back of the rack, you'll notice what looks to be the white version of the All-Star Game jerseys. Here's another look at the back of the jerseys:
NBA All Star Jersey 2019 pic.twitter.com/wGi6dBmZC4
— Darryl Glover (@_Brotha_d) January 15, 2019
It's worth noting that this is the second year the NBA has gone away from the traditional Eastern Conference vs. Western Conference format. Instead, the top two vote-getters will become team captains and draft their own roster.
It's safe to say the jersey design has not gone over well with fans.
Wholeheartedly, this looks like some of the reject jerseys you find in Ross and Marshall’s
— Juan Barco-Robayo (@JuanShip98) January 15, 2019
Oh well
Looks like a mistake novelty jersey from 2007
— Zubrus (@_zubrus_) January 15, 2019
Zero to do with the host city. Terrible.
— Roy (@RoyDaddy13) January 15, 2019
Looks like a faulty Clippers jersey
— Beñ Tucker (@bentucker219) January 15, 2019
Conrad Burry even did some mock-ups that might have gone over better, if only for the nostalgia.
and for fun, a blue and a black version of the same design. more color variations coming 🔜... pic.twitter.com/PGQ2Jy39Gh
— Conrad Burry 🔴🐐🎨 (@conradburry) January 12, 2019
If the NBA / Nike is insistent upon using a black + white color scheme for the NBA All-Star uniforms, maybe this could be a solution rather than slapping a black/white team logo on a plain uniform. Yea? pic.twitter.com/j2f8gIUW3u
— Conrad Burry 🔴🐐🎨 (@conradburry) January 12, 2019
It's a shame that the league didn't branch out a bit more, or that the NBA is insisting on going with the black and white look. It would be nice to see players keeping the colors of their host teams, or at least to see Charlotte a little better-represented.