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SALT LAKE CITY — With Delicate Arch painted on the court, the Jazz were anything but delicate to the defending NBA champion Golden State Warriors.
The Jazz deployed rock solid defense and held the Warriors to their worst loss in two seasons. The team played great and looked even better doing so by debuting the new Nike “City Edition” uniform. Paired with a new custom court, the Jazz will wear the uniforms five additional times this season at home and three times on the road.
With Nike as the new apparel partner of the NBA, all teams in the league have begun to play in uniforms that pay a unique tribute to their home city. The “City Edition” uniform is set to be redesigned yearly while Nike holds the contract, giving fans a new uniform to take pride in their respectable cities.
The Jazz’s version of the “City Edition” uniform is unique in the sense that they aren’t honoring just Salt Lake City, but extending the pride of Utah all the way down to the southern part of the state. Featuring various shades of orange, red and yellow, the colors are meant to pay tribute to the red rock formations, canyons and the arches in Moab. Along the side of the uniforms are the actual roadways from Salt Lake City to Moab and St. George.
“Our family is proud to have the Jazz jersey represent various parts of the state we all love,” said Greg Miller per team press release, “This year we feature the red rocks and canyon lands of Utah where we have spent so much time as a family.”
Fans at the game had positive reactions to the uniform and they were willing to spend the money to get them. According to Jazz Team store manager Abraham Ortiz, they had sold over 300 jerseys in just three days. The Jazz broke the Vivint Arena team store game sales record on the night of the game.
Jazz fans you sure loved the City Edition colors we broke our all time sales record tonight! #TakeNotepic.twitter.com/oBFaXgN1cA — Utah Jazz Team Store (@jazzteamstore) January 31, 2018
“At first I wasn’t sold on it, but when they unveiled the court with it too, I thought it was a pretty cool combination that represented Utah in a cool way,” said Tyler Hudgins, a Jazz fan who was wearing one of the new jerseys.
Since the first “City Edition” uniform is a tribute to the southern part of the state, fans have some ideas about how to change the uniform next year.
“I think the coolest thing about Utah is that you get the desert and you have the green and the mountains in the northern parts of Utah. So something kinda juxtaposing those two,” said Sam Shewan, another Jazz fan wearing one of the new hats.
“It would be kind of cool to bounce between the different climates we have in Utah,” added Hudgins, “Right now we have the desert look, but we could hop over to the snow-capped mountains later. That would be cool, too.”
The players were impressed with the look of the uniform too, even though some of them haven’t made it down to see the southern part of Utah.
“I’ve been down there once, I think my rookie year,” said Derrick Favors, “I like them, they were cool, I like the colors, I like the design.”
“It was the first time we saw them today in person, we’re 1-0 in them, it was cool. Obviously something different,” said Joe Ingles. “The locker room looked extremely different, we’re used to walking in with white everywhere, and having a red locker room was kinda different, felt like playing for a different team for a second, whoever designed them did a good job.”
“Love them. They looked a lot better on than I thought they would and they didn’t disappoint,” said Donovan Mitchell. “I think the color scheme is great. I gotta learn more about the meaning behind it to be honest, but I really like these.”
These are the fourth and final uniforms to be released by the Utah Jazz this season. The team hopes to continue its undefeated streak in its latest threads, giving meaning to “look good, play better.”
