The Phoenix Suns released a new orange uniform, quite easily the most solidly orange jersey they have ever worn. And I have to be honest: it’s not bad at all.
The thing that I most disliked about the Steve Nash-era uniforms was the addition of the secondary color of grey. The Phoenix Suns have been purple and orange for the entirely of their existence, and while black is a neutral enough shade to wear as a third color (shade), grey just never really seemed to fit.
It was in that era, however, that orange was worn as a primary color for an individual jersey for the first time, a color that ought to be worn with every individual set of uniform styles so long as the franchise remains in existence.
Since Nike has taken over as the controlling provider of NBA uniforms and the order in which they are worn, the Phoenix Suns have been using their “Statement” to don a black uniform, continuing a tradition they have followed since the 1993-94 season.
Most recently the team wore a black “PHX” uniform keeping up the tradition since the Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic days, one that I personally would have enjoyed had it been kept in circulation.
Yet, with the addition of that jersey, the team lost a solid orange uniform, which had had a regular part in the overall rotation since the mid-2000s,
This season that brief stint without a solid orange uniform will be broken with a new addition, one that looks strangely familiar in a couple of particular ways.
https://twitter.com/suns/status/1177735617909673985?s=21
My bias must be shared up front with my sharing of my love of a primary-orange uniform. It is a very unique color, one that very few teams in sports actually use, and one that sets the Phoenix Suns apart in that manner.
I am also a big fan of the long-streak sunburst logo, one that has been used throughout their entire history, and with very little variation since the 1992-93 incarnation.
While I will admit right off the bat that I think that the uniform itself is very simple and would have preferred a uniform that better reminiscent to either the current set or the original fireball (Charles Barkley) era set, this one isn’t bad at all.
This jersey is conspicuously familiar to the Cleveland Cavaliers’ own Statement uniform which has their Cleveland “C” in the spot that the Suns uniform has the fire burst.
That look is also one that is reminiscent to the Christmas Day set worn by teams in 2013 that were sleeved (thank goodness that hideous look is gone), where the logo was in grey, against a solid colored uniform background.
The Suns’ uniform is absolutely better than either the Christmas or current Cavs unis, and with the color orange, should actually look very flashy and impressive when contrasted to their opponents.
While some have noted that these seem like a look that might be found on the cheap rack of a WalMart (which I do admit that to a degree that absolutely do), I do appreciate the look as a solid color, and believe that they could have done much worse.
The Phoenix Suns should always have a solid colored orange jersey in their rotation and there is no doubt that these are both nice and very representative of their overall look and theme.