24-25 NBA changes

[Lights Out]

14 minutes ago, Danny the Sheeb said:

I just don't understand why people like those jerseys so much (other than nostalgia/success) when the J-note word mark is one of the most creative and iconic designs in the league.

 

I've never been a huge fan of the J-note myself, but I do like the J-note/number lockup they've been using since 2017-18 and I'm glad it's sticking around in some capacity.

[pelicanfan]

in extremely glad they’re bringing back the city edition design. i was awfully afraid it was a one time thing but i’m glad it’s not.

 

the black jersey is questionable and the little hints of blue feels a little out of place for me. but i have NO right to complain whatsoever. they’ve outdone themselves. the league is healing. 

[mattr1198]

And just like that, handily the worst NBA uniforms and branding of the last 20 years (tied with those lazy as hell LA Clippers uniforms from 2015-17) are no more. The bar was on the ground, but gotta hand it to Utah, they lept over it with the utmost ease with these uniforms. They genuinely all look great and I can tell those home/road sets will sell great.

[GriffinM6]

38 minutes ago, WBeltz said:

It sucks the two black/yellow unis just can’t get phased out entirely this year.

 

but I fw the black mountain jersey

Looking at the graphic you quoted, seems like they will officially phase out the black and yellow statement on 12/31 and start wearing the new statement after the new year. I'd imagine they wear the city edition the majority of their games this upcoming season. 

[truepg]

2 hours ago, officeglenn said:

2024-25

 

2025-26

 

As it's been already noted, this package is rather undercooked. Some thoughts:

– Wasn't a fan of the new gradient mountain rendering from the beginning, but somehow the design worked on the court after all

– The dark wordmark works better against the mountains on the purple uni, as seen compared to the purple City edition

– The primary purple jersey works better than the City with the original mountain design, and it shouldn't

– The black Statement is the best of them all, and it shouldn't be. They shouldn't have a black uni, at this point at least. The note with the mountain setup works unexpectedly well

– The City purple looks disjointed. The mountain graphic is cut off abruptly on the sides, and then there are some two random diagonal stripes. Both elements are disconnected to each other and don't follow any single narrative
– The black uni looks to have the best template that I feel the whole package should've followed. The City does that but not right.

 

They just shouldn't have stuck to that western-like throwback font with the dated perspective slant style, and used a sans serif instead, like they did on the Red Rock jerseys. That way they would also have avoided the clash with the Classic uniform wordmarks and the possible obstacle of using the Jazz nickname. I'm glad that they figured to include the powder blue in the design.

But the question is, what would the primary logo look like that these new uni designs require? 

[shaydre1019]

2 hours ago, MDGP said:

Well, this should kill off any notion that the NBA has a five-year rule for jerseys.

If I had to guess, ownership paid a hefty fee to break the 5 yr rule.

Will next season be the 4th in the new set?

[Bmac]

Reading the press release, team marketing speak, and Ryan Smith's quotes makes it abundantly clear that this identity is all about mountains and that "Jazz" has very little to do with the identity. They keep using the phrase "mountain basketball." Might as well go all in and call them the Utah Mountains at this point.

 

That being said, I love this rebrand. (Excluding the black uniform.)

[Digby]

As a course-correction it's great. By its own merits, it's solid but not a slam dunk. The throwback wordmark feels appropriate if we were playing the mashup game again but feels like an odd fit full-time. A little bit design-by-committee which I guess is the obvious over-correction that was going to happen.

 

Mostly, I just have no idea why the rollout had to be this confusing.

[Brave-Bird 08]

I hate that note jersey, and unfortunately I am sure we are going to see it the most when they are on TV...it's two different motifs literally on top of eachother

 

That's like if the Atlanta Hawks took the pacman logo and the modern 90s bird logo and just plopped them on top of eachother. 

 

The Jazz brand is always going to be a challenge in itself, but did nobody think to themselves that that design is ridiculous? 

 

Gotta say, at first I was rolling my eyes and confused at the phased rollout -- but after taking a deep breath and thinking about it, I at least understand it and am now okay with it. 

 

The home and road jerseys are great. It's a MAJOR tease and bummer that we have to wait, and instead get another year of awkwardness from them. The Jazz's rebranding fiasco has been such a convoluted mess that you could probably teach a cautionary-tale marketing class around it. 

[tBBP]

1 hour ago, CitizenTino said:

If you’re basing a new set off the late 90s look, some copper accents would be nice...

 

I agree. Without it, the set seems to be "missing" something. It works okay without, but it's also not as, I don't know, "robust"?

 

7 minutes ago, Bmac said:

Reading the press release, team marketing speak, and Ryan Smith's quotes makes it abundantly clear that this identity is all about mountains and that "Jazz" has very little to do with the identity. They keep using the phrase "mountain basketball."

 

And see, this is another issue I have with some teams' branding/rebranding efforts. IMO it takes a balance of civic and mascot to really make something work, unless a nickname is so obviously inspired by its civic location that it meshes. Anyway, this looks to be all about "Utah" at the expense of "Jazz"...except for the current J-note logo and whatever logo they come up with next. (Someone brought up a great point earlier: what logo[s] will go with this updated brand identity package?) The Denver Broncos just did this too with boosting the mountains and 5280 all up in our grilles. 

 

It may just be me, but I think this "city" branding wave has washed over and will continue to wash over future Nike-league team identities. I don't know what that means for the short term future—because let's face it, that's where things are going and in large parts already are, short-term appeal for maximum $$$—but we'll see.

 

All that said, I AM glad to see the mountain motif return permanently (as of 2025). IMO it never should have left...

[kolob]

6 minutes ago, tBBP said:

Anyway, this looks to be all about "Utah" at the expense of "Jazz"

This has been the Jazz’s problem since 1996. We want to be Utah’s team, but the Jazz aren’t the Jazz without the note logo and classic colors (or close them). 

[DJT]

The logos are disjointed as well. Should have used that partial mountain silhouette with the j note for one. 

[kolob]

1 hour ago, truepg said:

But the question is, what would the primary logo look like that these new uni designs require? 

 

Nothing too exciting. There are color variations for black, purple and light blue background as well. 

https://www.nba.com/jazz/mountain-basketball/brand

[DJT]

The simplified mountain should be an official logo. Maybe throw the j-note in front of it. 

[tBBP]

22 minutes ago, kolob said:

 

Nothing too exciting. There are color variations for black, purple and light blue background as well. 

https://www.nba.com/jazz/mountain-basketball/brand

 

Oh brother...this is just about the worst possible outcome. Frankenstein mashup jobs generally do not turn out well. These logos/scripts are telling two different stylistic stories. One is a flat, static, one-layer style and despite the milquetoastiness of it is at least digitially optimized. The other is a stroked relic of 90s nostalgia but gives off energy, dynamism and movement.

 

Either stick to one story or start all the way over, but don't mash them up like this. It just jarred the whole thing up.

[Germanshepherd]

I welcome Diet 90s as the newest rebrand trend. Even if they're worse versions of what they're homaging to, at least the franchises know how they're supposed to look.

 

I do think using the old style of mountain as seen on the 24-25 city uniform would improve the set, but if you don't want to bring up too much memories of Karl Malone I definitely get that.

 

Still a super clean uniform set, I'd put it in the top half of the league.

[DJT]

I’m horrible at photoshop. But I feel someone could re-color this and merge the j-note with the mountain. Maybe the ball is in front of the mountains at the bottom and the note is at the top and is slightly behind the mountains at the top. Or the note just behind the mountains. Something would make a good logo. 

[VikWings]

5 hours ago, kolob said:

 

 

I think we all assumed that this years city jersey was going to be the future primary or at least a basis for it, and I'm fine with that, but that new city jersey is just fantastic and should have been the new primary instead with a white counterpart, even though I do love the white version of the '24 city. But they both need a little more blue and one of the two should say Jazz on it.

 

The BFBS alt is meh at best. They should have just went with a 'Jazz' wordmark. The J note and number over the mountains just looks cluttered. Also that jersey should be sky blue instead of black, but that's just wishful thinking, we all know they just have to have a black jersey.

 

Overall it's a pretty good set:

 

City - A

White - A-

Purple Away/Icon - B

Black - C-

[spartacat_12]

2 hours ago, Bmac said:

Reading the press release, team marketing speak, and Ryan Smith's quotes makes it abundantly clear that this identity is all about mountains and that "Jazz" has very little to do with the identity. They keep using the phrase "mountain basketball." Might as well go all in and call them the Utah Mountains at this point.

 

I'm sure if there weren't so much brand equity tied to the Jazz name they'd have changed it by now. This isn't the first case of NBA branding that focuses on the city and essentially ignores the nickname. Golden State's brand is built around the Bay Bridge, the Wizards might as well be called the Monuments, and the Lakers have never had a single logo referencing lakes/boats.

[SFGiants58]

14 minutes ago, spartacat_12 said:

 

…the Lakers have never had a single logo referencing lakes/boats.

The logo’s speed lines had water drips originally, but the point still stands.