Nike has reimagined Warm-Up Gear for all 30 NBA Teams A brand new aesthetic
This year’s NBA pre-season has generated unprecedented hype, fuelled by a summer of moves that has brought a wave of unofficial debuts. LeBron James made his first appearance for the Philadelphia 76ers, where 2024 Finals MVP Jaylen Brown has also landed, taking to the court in a jersey other than that of the Boston Celtics for the first time in his career. Several other stars who switched teams, most notably Giannis Antetokounmpo with Miami and LaMelo Ball with Minnesota, have also featured in friendlies played at an intensity closer to that of the regular season, keen to make an immediate impression on their new fanbases.
Add in major returns from injury, including those of Tyrese Haliburton and Kyrie Irving, and Ja Morant’s fast-break dunks as he introduced himself to Portland fans, and engagement with content posted on the NBA’s official social media channels has soared well beyond the levels recorded in previous years. Yet, despite this surge in attention, the real show-stealers have been the new pre-game fits designed by Nike, which immediately went viral across the world’s largest and most active basketball community.
Nike’s Standard Issue Collection
All 30 NBA teams will wear their own customised warm-up gear from Nike’s Standard Issue collection. The Swoosh’s stated goal is to bring the next generation of basketball players closer to both new and longtime fans, with a range of pieces and silhouettes spanning everything from classic oversized hoodies to muscle-tee-inspired tops with cut-off sleeves, as well as loose-fitting long trousers and shorts.
The campaign’s tagline is Worn with Obsession, a phrase that also appears on the garments themselves and captures the idea behind the collection: obsession, first and foremost on the part of the players, but also of the fans watching from the sidelines. The promotional video features brothers Amen and Ausar Thompson, Jalen Johnson, Ace Bailey and 2026 NBA Draft first overall pick AJ Dybantsa. Its message is that what happens away from the spotlight — in this case, a late-night game on a hidden streetball court that draws spectators from across the city — eventually finds its way into the limelight.
The next step in the collaboration between Nike and the NBA will be the launch of the Specter Uniforms for some of the League’s historic franchises. These include its three oldest teams — the New York Knicks, Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors — alongside franchises established just before the 1950s: the Los Angeles Lakers, Philadelphia 76ers, Detroit Pistons, Atlanta Hawks and Sacramento Kings.
The Aesthetics of Warm-Up Gear
Obsession is a two-way street, shared by players and fans alike. This becomes clear through the reactions of the characters in the promotional video to one of last season’s most memorable plays: Josh Giddey’s half-court buzzer-beater for the Chicago Bulls against the Los Angeles Lakers. The casual fan dismisses it as nothing more than a lucky shot, while the die-hard fan insists there is something deeper behind the basket, before rushing towards the playground after receiving what feels like an inner calling. Whether it takes the form of hard work or remains something intangible, this obsession shapes the way we perceive the world around us.
The logos and names of the franchises appear blurred despite the use of vivid colours against generally neutral or contrasting backgrounds, with the distinctive out-of-focus effect setting them apart. Resembling streaks of spray paint, this visual language evokes the distortion of reality brought on by obsession and excess, by pushing the body and mind beyond their limits — the real price to be paid by the few who have embraced this calling. The opaque lens through which the world is viewed takes on an almost Impressionist quality, turning the graphics on the garments into a neon glow in the darkness, something the untrained eye cannot quite perceive clearly. It is an image that captures the tension between light and darkness at the heart of the campaign.
The Best Pieces We’ve Seen So Far
One of the most intriguing teams assembled this year is the Washington Wizards. In the second half of last season, they pulled off some truly random trades for Trae Young and Anthony Davis, dropping two established stars — perhaps even past their physical prime — into a young, rebuilding core that now also includes rookie AJ Dybantsa, who featured in the Worn with Obsession trailer. Beyond the curiosity surrounding this unlikely mix of young talent and veterans, whose potential is still difficult to decipher, the team has also drawn attention during pre-season thanks to Anthony Davis’s choice of warm-up gear: a sleeveless hoodie, undoubtedly the collection’s most distinctive piece. Across the chest, the word Wizards appears in oversized, distorted lettering in bright red against a dark blue background. A seemingly colder Young — perhaps a nod to his Ice Trae nickname — opted instead for the full tracksuit, with Washington’s logo featured on both the hoodie and, most notably, the trousers.
The Minnesota Timberwolves are among the teams making the most of their logo, especially after pairing LaMelo Ball with a rising superstar in the making, Anthony Edwards. Their aesthetic is all the more striking thanks to the nocturnal colours of their emblem, featuring a wolf howling at the moon — shaped like a basketball — against a black background. The design works particularly well on the trousers, while the pre-game pieces feature an all-white logo set against Nike’s Aero-FIT technology, previously seen on kits for last year’s FIFA World Cup. Among the less prominent franchises, the Toronto Raptors stand out above all, thanks to the customised jacket Scottie Barnes wore during the team’s official photoshoots. A striking shade of red is broken up by the franchise name in black across the back. The hoodie also deserves a mention, featuring a slight variation on what might be the greatest logo in NBA history: the dinosaur, this time biting into the T in Toronto.
The Indiana Pacers also deserve a mention among the league’s small-market teams, if only for the striking contrast between the yellow basketball in their logo — with the P barely visible — and the dark background, featured on both hoodies and shorts. The standout piece, however, is the pre-game top worn for Tyrese Haliburton’s return, with yellow taking over the entire back as the player salutes his home crowd. For the occasion, he also covered the cost of every ticket in the student section.
As for the league’s biggest names, it is impossible to overlook the pieces designed for the Lakers, Celtics, Warriors and Knicks, the latter being the reigning NBA champions. New York’s pre-game top stands out in particular, featuring Aero-FIT technology: the perforated black fabric contrasts sharply with the orange logo, a colour combination that has already proved hugely popular in previous years on the team’s Edition Jerseys. The Lakers’ familiar pairing of a yellow background and purple logo may not be the most inventive, but it remains an appealing classic. The Boston Celtics offer something more distinctive with their training jersey, a particularly dark design in which black dominates, while green is reserved for the outline of the team’s iconic shamrock. The award for creativity does not go to the Warriors either, although they have cleverly introduced multiple colourways for their off-court pieces, sticking to the classic blue and gold for their pre-game gear.