NBA Colored Uniform At Home Games Before 2017

[gothedistance]

The NBA allowed teams the option to wear their colored uniform at home in recent years, where prior the standard was the home team had to wear white and the visiting team in their colored uniform. This thread is colored uniforms at home in the NBA pre-2017. Lets give all instances where a team wore their colored uniform prior to the current era.

 

-In the mid 2000s the Lakers and 76ers were both in throwback uniforms. The Lakers were in blue and the 76ers in white.

-In the late 2000s the Nuggets wore a green uniform and the Jazz in their white uniform at the Pepsi Center. That week the NBA was promoting earth green week. There was another team who wore green as the home team, but my memory of it is fuzzy.

-The Heat wore their black uniform on their home court against the Bulls in the late 2000s.

-The Blazers used to wear their red uniforms at the then Rose Garden when they had their games on or near Christmas day during the Brandon Roy era. One of those games was against Denver, and the Nuggets were in white.

 

I recall a game when the Celtics wore their green uniform at home. I can't remember what game it was, but I think it was in a time when Boston had the big three, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.

 

These are the most I can remember. What other NBA games had the home team not in their colors instead of white before 2017? I used to follow the NBA, but don't follow it like before. So I was curious about the instances I don't know of/about.

[pepis21]

24 minutes ago, gothedistance said:

There was another team who wore green as the home team, but my memory of it is fuzzy.

Bulls and Bobcats had Green Week uniforms too, both teams wore them at home iirc.

[throwmesomepics]

I remember watching this game as a kid and something feeling off

[The_Admiral]

When the Bobcats were rebecoming the Hornets, I thought it would have been a neat idea for them to wear teal at home against sufficiently clashing teams (viz., teams in red, black, orange, navy) and white against the rest. I'm sorry for what I lathe-of-heavened into being. I couldn't have predicted I Googled Something uniforms.

[who do you think]

On 6/29/2022 at 6:28 PM, gothedistance said:

I recall a game when the Celtics wore their green uniform at home. I can't remember what game it was, but I think it was in a time when Boston had the big three, Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, and Ray Allen.

 

The Celtics wore their original green alt (pictured above) for Black Friday home games starting the year they unveiled it.

 

For whatever reason, I also recall a random game in Orlando in 2003-04 - first year of Orlando's ghost piping uniforms, last year of T-Mac - where they wore their regular blues and the Celtics wore white. I can also recall several hard\wood classics games with color at home/white on road but I don't know if those are quite in the spirit of what we're talking about here.

[Old School Fool]

The Lakers and Celtics wore throwbacks in December 1996 making this the only time the Lakers wore a road jersey and blue in The Forum. Also, Kobe didn't play in this game so if you see someone wearing this jersey with the gold NBA logo then it's something he never actually wore.

 

 

Also, the Hornets debuted their purple alternate at home against the magic to open the 1994-95 season.

 

 

[Discogod]

On 7/1/2022 at 6:16 AM, Old School Fool said:

The Lakers and Celtics wore throwbacks in December 1996 making this the only time the Lakers wore a road jersey and blue in The Forum. Also, Kobe didn't play in this game so if you see someone wearing this jersey with the gold NBA logo then it's something he never actually wore.

 

 

Also, the Hornets debuted their purple alternate at home against the magic to open the 1994-95 season.

 

 

 

Technically that was the Hornets' 3rd game of the season - 9th November, 1994. The team had to request permission to wear the road unis at home from both the NBA and the Magic.

 

2 more occurances - on March 17th 1986 the Jazz wore their old green uniforms at home vs Detroit, who wore their standard blue uniforms. They did the same on March 17th 1987, at vs. the Warriors, who again wore their standard road unis.

 

Here's a pic from the 1986 game:

[dont care]

I feel this thread will go on forever because teams regularly wore colored alts at home in the mid to late 2000’s

[The_Admiral]

Oh, if you liked yellow v. white NBA games because David Stern wouldn't budge on a rule, the mid-to-late 2000s were for you.

[TheRealPepman]

October 30, 2003

Denver Nuggets @ Houston Rockets

 

January 30, 2012

Chicago Bulls @ Miami Heat

 

November 23, 1996

New York Knicks @ Philadelphi 76ers

 

December 28, 2003

Boston Celtics @ Los Angeles Lakers

 

February 6, 1999

Chicago Bulls @ Utah Jazz 

[johnnysama]

Personal opinion time, the NBA should have made it color at home from the get-go, like the NHL since 2003 and before 1970.

[dont care]

6 hours ago, johnnysama said:

Personal opinion time, the NBA should have made it color at home from the get-go, like the NHL since 2003 and before 1970.

Nah, colored uniforms blended into the court too much, especially with older TVs. It’s better now but still not ideal

[PHXJerseyGuy]

October 30, 2003: Suns wore their first orange jersey in franchise history for their home opener. It was LeBron’s second NBA game.

[Indigo]

After winning the 2016 chip in the infamous black alternates, Cleveland wore those jerseys for a handful of home games, including the home opener against the Knicks:

 

…and interestingly, the year before, against Houston on March 29:

(there was another pic from the same date that showed Kyrie in front of the Cavs thin-screen-rim-things that circle the inside arena.

[GriffinM6]

I can't seem to find any pics of games in Philips Arena with these uniforms, but I do remember watching Hawks home games on TV where they'd wear these.

[Satomiblood]

On 7/1/2022 at 1:16 AM, Old School Fool said:

Also, the Hornets debuted their purple alternate at home against the magic to open the 1994-95 season.

 

 

 

That Magic-Hornets game was an instant classic.

[TrueYankee26]

On 6/30/2022 at 2:24 PM, throwmesomepics said:

I remember watching this game as a kid and something feeling off

At least it is visually appealing

[TheRealPepman]

Houston Rockets @ New York Knicks

November 25, 1995

[Discogod]

On 9/22/2022 at 5:38 PM, TheRealPepman said:

Houston Rockets @ New York Knicks

November 25, 1995

 

Similarly to the above Hornets game, the Knicks debuted their 3rd unis at home.

[TheBigFiz21]

This from a Heat-Magic game in 2011.