Ranking the Nets, Pacers, Nuggets and Spurs’ New ABA-Inspired Uniforms

In 1976, the NBA absorbed four of the remaining six ABA teams. The San Antonio Spurs, Indiana Pacers, New York Nets and Denver Nuggets joined the NBA while the two remaining ABA teams—the Kentucky Colonels and the Spirits of St. Louis—folded and their players entered a dispersal draft.

Now, 50 years later, each franchise that was part of the merger remains. The NBA will celebrate the golden anniversary of the ABA merger throughout the upcoming season. Ahead of the festivities, the four franchises with ABA roots revealed new classic edition jerseys and courts.

The new threads bring some serious basketball nostalgia and immediately make you think about legends like Julius Erving and George Gervin. You’ll see these throughout the upcoming season, but here’s how we rank each new look from worst to best:

4. San Antonio Spurs

The Spurs were originally the Texas Chaparrals in the ABA, located in Dallas. In 1973, the team was sold to a San Antonio-based ownership group who relocated the team as the Spurs and the rest was history.

San Antonio’s new classic edition uniforms are awesome, especially the black, silver and white trim around the shorts and jerseys. The look is awfully similar to the Spurs’ black and silver statement edition uniforms, though. Chaparrals colors would have been a fun curveball, but the team did make its breakthrough once it moved to San Antonio so you can’t blame the franchise for going back to its original look. At least the court has some flare, an ode to the floor at the demolished Hemisfair Arena:

3. Denver Nuggets

The Nuggets’ classic uniforms may not be for everyone, but I like when teams mix it up. Make no mistake, it’s odd to see Denver go completely away from its usual colors as an ode to the franchise’s original name that’s taken by another franchise.

However, if the job was to honor the organization’s ABA roots, the Nuggets certainly did so. Originally, the franchise was known as the Denver Rockets, but changed to the Nuggets in 1974 in anticipation of a move to the NBA because the name was already in use by the Houston Rockets. It’s a fun change of pace that brings a basketball history lesson, even if the uniform looks a bit bland on the surface.

The best part will be thinking back to these years from now. Do you remember when Nikola Jokić wore an orange jersey?

2. Indiana Pacers

The Pacers began in the ABA with the same name, so no odd history to go through. But Indiana nailed its classic look from the logo to the yellow racing stripe down the jersey. The Pacers won three ABA titles and went back-to-back in 1972 and '73 when the team wore this iconic road look. Maybe that’s some good luck on top of Tyrese Haliburton’s return.

Indiana’s classic court is great, too. It even has an outline of the ABA championship trophy at the center to celebrate the franchise with the most titles in the defunct league’s history.

1. Brooklyn Nets

It feels wrong even calling them the Brooklyn Nets in these uniforms. It’s the New York Nets in these, maybe you could even get away with the New Jersey Nets. The franchise changed from the New York Nets to the New Jersey Nets early in its NBA tenure, then shifted to Brooklyn in 2012 upon the move to the Barclays Center.

This season marks the franchise’s 60th year in existence and it did a nice job weaving together all eras in the ABA-inspired uniform and court. While the uniform features the red, white and blue design from the organization’s ABA days, it’s also a nice ode to the colorful ABA basketball, even if it’s not meant to be. The Nets even adopted the signature tri-color basketball in its current Brooklyn logo across social profiles as part of the uniform release.

It’s a pipe dream to see a current version of that ball on the floor in the modern NBA. One can only dream. Most of all, though, Brooklyn’s ABA-inspired uniforms are incredibly clean. At least that gives Nets fans something to get excited about ahead of the new season.

Take a look at the court, too:

Well done, NBA. A well-executed dose of basketball nostalgia.

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