We have reached the snooze-inducing period of the NBA calendar. Free agency and trade season have gone from frenzied to dormant, draft mania has ended, and Summer League has concluded. Now the only thing left to do is scour the internet for videos of your favorite player getting buckets against his personal trainer, looking newly svelte, or modeling his team’s new uniforms.
On that last note, we have been blessed in recent days to learn that many of the most beloved NBA jerseys in recent memory are coming back. Thanks to a flurry of tweets from Evan Sidery, a basketball reporter at Forbes, we know that at least 11 teams are bringing back old, fan-favorite jerseys this season. In some instances, that is beyond exciting. In others—looking at you, Knicks and Spurs—the news is fun, but doesn’t necessarily represent a huge upgrade.
Below, we have a look at the nine teams that have already knocked it out of the park by simply going through their own archives. A modern retro feel is going to hit NBA fans like a soothing balm, as over the last few years we’ve been bombarded with endless City Edition jerseys that either actively hurt the eyes or made absolutely no impression before they were mercifully kicked to the curb. If this crop of new announcements is any indication, the league is relishing in its history and saying no to change for the sake of change. It’s about damn time.
Minnesota Timberwolves
Kevin Garnett in 2003Rocky Widner/Getty Images
In one of the more obvious decisions in league history, the Minnesota Timberwolves are bringing back the black Christmas tree uniforms from the franchise’s glory years. When you close your eyes and picture Kevin Garnett’s time in Minnesota, your mind likely conjures an image of him in this get up, probably screaming at someone.
During KG’s heyday, the Wolves made eight straight playoff runs, appearing in the postseason every year from 1997 to 2004. With a new, equally exciting core in place, Minnesota is poised for a similar spree of success, and will do so with a much stronger closet than they’ve had in recent years. With their last two City Edition jerseys, the T-Wolves have really leaned into a wintry aesthetic meant to evoke the frigidity of a Minnesota winter. It…hasn’t really worked.
