Utah Jazz officially reveal their new rebrand

SALT LAKE CITY — Dwyane Wade's mother was confused. And soon Wade was, too.

That was the reason behind a phone call he made to Jazz owner Ryan Smith after Wade became a part owner of the team.

"Hey, my mom wants to know what the Jazz colors are and we can't figure it out," Smith recalled Wade asking.

A look through the recent Jazz uniforms reveal the source of the confusion. Here's the color combos the Jazz have worn in the last four years: navy, yellow and green (which happened to be the three official colors); red sunset gradient; black with the red sunset gradient; mardi gras purple, yellow and green; and a purple and blue mountain jersey.

Depending on who you ask, Friday either helped with the confusion or made it even worse.

After a year of teases and hints, the Jazz officially have a new rebrand. In a bit of a surprise move, the Jazz announced its primary color was purple, and will b ring back the purple mountain jerseys that were used from 1996-2003 — at least for one year. The Jazz hinted that a purple jersey could change season by season — which makes it seem more like a city edition jersey.

But wait, what about the yellow and black jerseys that were leaked? Those are still here — and in fact, it seems the Jazz have pivoted on the rebrand a bit. Instead of making it about the new colors, the Jazz made Friday's announcement about the return of the purple (which hasn't been part of Utah's official colors since 2003).

"Purple is back and here to stay," Jazz president Jim Olson said. "This uniform collection features the return of our cornerstone color purple, which will be integral to our new designs in future Jazz seasons. Purple is beloved by our fan base and lives at the core of our identity. Alongside our newly painted courts, these fresh yet familiar looks speak to our great history and dynamic future."

So to recap, the Jazz colors will be purple, black, yellow and white.

In addition to the jerseys, the Jazz announced two new courts that will be used during the season. The first will be the team's Mardi Gras colors and the purple mountains logo at midcourt. The second will feature a black Jazz note logo at midcourt, with black the predominant feature, and yellow and white used for the baseline text.

The Jazz first started laying the breadcrumbs of the design in September when they gave the Zion's Bank Basketball Campus (the team's practice facility) a new look.

All the navy, green and yellow colors that donned the walls and the courts were switched to black and white. Soon after, Vivint Arena got a fresh update, too. The J-Note statue that sits outside the arena was changed to black, along with the arena's signs. The team's social accounts also began using the black, yellow and white color combo more frequently.

Smith confirmed the rebrand in October at the Silicon Slopes Summit.

Since then, the new colors and jersey designs have been frequently leaked — with most fan reaction being unfavorable to the new look.

But the red gradient "city" edition jerseys weren't loved when they were first leaked out but became one of the team's most sought after jersey after fans got a look at the real thing.

Will something similar happen this time around? Time will tell. And if it doesn't, the fans will still have the nostalgic purple to fall back on.

This is the first major rebrand for the Jazz since 2010 when the team went to a navy, green and yellow look, and the fifth color change in franchise history.

1979-96: The Jazz wore the Mardi Gras purple, yellow and green the team inherited from their New Orleans days.

1996-2004: Utah had its biggest redesign by scrapping the famed note logo for one featuring mountains and changing its colors to purple and light blue.

2004-10: Utah kept its logo the same but went with a heavy blue design that featured navy and baby blues and removed purple. At this point, all the original Jazz colors had been changed.

2010-22: The Jazz pivoted back to the J-note and changed its colors to navy, green and yellow. In 2016, they made some modern updates to the design but kept the colors and logos mostly the same.

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