People love alternate outfits these days, and not just in the NBA. Everyone loves them. As a “City Edition” uniform, each NBA team wears a different one every year. These uniforms are based on different times in the history of the city and company.
Some of the most famous ones that the Los Angeles Lakers have had are the “L.A. Nights” edition and the “Black Mamba” edition, which was created by Kobe Bryant and worn by the team to the 2020 NBA Championship.
The Lakers have now publicly shown off their 2023–24 City Edition uniforms, which are called the California Dream. And it looks like all of the Lakers players, like LeBron James, Anthony Davis, and Austin Reaves, like the new look:
The Lakers explained that these uniforms are based on old Lakers art and represent the dream and path of Los Angeles. In the 1960s, when the Lakers first moved from Minneapolis to Los Angeles, the main triangle design on the shirt was a nod to that time.
The part of the shirt that goes from purple to black is supposed to look like the famous California sunset. The numbers are the same style that the team wore from 1999 to 2017—a time when they won five NBA titles.
There’s also a meaning behind the shorts. In the middle of the belt line, there’s a “LAL” sign that stands for both Los Angeles Lakers and Leave a Legacy. Part of the LA logo that is seen on other parts of the shorts has speed marks that are meant to represent the road of following a dream.
The Lakers will wear these uniforms for the first time on Nov. 14 when they play the Memphis Grizzlies in the first-ever In-Season Tournament.