By Joe Pohoryles
Boston University News Service
With the 75th NBA season underway, Nike, the official uniform sponsor of the league, unveiled new City Edition jerseys for all 30 teams this past week.
The Celtics were no exception, as the design they received this year was an all-green piece, with only white outlines creating a distinction between the name, numbers and blank spaces.
According to a press release from the NBA, this year’s City Edition uniforms aim to highlight each franchise’s greatest moments through the years.
While other teams have implemented entirely different color schemes in their City Edition uniforms over the years, Nike has yet to deviate from the Celtics’ simple yet iconic green and white style.
The most different look was in 2017-18, when the jerseys were gray with green text rather than white. Since then, a couple of City Edition uniforms have received touches of gold, while last year’s version paid homage to their 17 championship banners and stuck to the green and white.
This year’s version remains green and white and pays tribute to even more of the franchise’s rich history. While no Celtics City Edition uniform has been too different from the others, this year’s edition certainly has the most smaller details.
Owen Gund, a local Celtics fan studying at Boston University, strongly supports this year’s style.
“[I’m a] big fan of the city jerseys this year,” Gund said. “Love the font, and they have the simplicity of the classic C’s jersey.”
Along with the vintage “Lucky the Leprechaun” logo at the center of the waistband and a small layout of all the team’s retired numbers at the left hip, the jersey also features 17 shamrocks, with the year of each championship title.
The player nameplates on the back of the jersey are also positioned beneath their number as opposed to the more traditional top.
The shorts also give a nod to the league’s 75th anniversary, with a green “75” on the side.
While some fans appreciate the fact that Nike and the league respect the tradition of such a historically successful franchise, others claim the lack of deviation from the Celtics’ usual colors makes the City Edition uniforms boring from year to year.
“I do wish that they would mix it up a bit,” Ethan Fuller, a Celtics reporter for BasketballNews.com, said. “Not that I have a problem with their color scheme in general, but yeah, there’s only so much you can do with it until it gets boring and repetitive.”
The Celtics haven’t looked their best to open the season, but when they wear the new uniforms for the first time on Nov. 12, they will at least look fresh.
