Logos and uniforms of the Los Angeles Lakers

The logos and uniforms of the Los Angeles Lakers have gone through many changes throughout the team's history.

Logos

The logos below are in chronological order.[1]

Uniforms

As the Minneapolis Lakers, their road uniform is powder blue with gold trim. It is notable that it featured the city name's abbreviation (MPLS) on their road uniforms; they later changed it to the team nickname in block lettering. Their home uniform is white with powder blue and gold trim, and features the team nickname. It was used from 1948-1958. In their final years in Minneapolis, the uniforms were tweaked, eliminating gold and replaced the city abbreviation with the team nickname on their road uniforms; the uniform featured four stars surrounding the front of the jersey. The shade of blue used in the home uniforms was changed to royal blue. The latter version was used during the 2004–05 season as throwback uniforms.

Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1960, they retained the blue and white scheme. The uniforms now feature a cursive 'Los Angeles' lettering. The road uniforms were royal blue with white and powder blue trim, while the home uniforms were white with royal and powder blue trim. The shorts feature the wordmark 'Lakers' on either side of the leg. The uniforms were used as throwbacks in the 1996-97 and 2003-04 seasons.

Moving to The Forum in 1967, the Lakers revert to the now-famous purple (then known as Forum blue) and gold scheme. The purple was officially listed as Forum Blue until the early 1980s. While the purple away jerseys saw minimal changes, the home gold jerseys have made significant changes through the years. From 1967–1978, the jersey numbers were white with purple trim, with minimal changes in the striping on the jersey and the shorts' beltline. The 1971–72 home uniforms were brought back as throwbacks for the 2010–11 season, albeit with modern lettering on the player's names. During the Showtime era the numbers were purple with white trim; this version was used as throwbacks in the 2007–08 season. The current version, in use since the 1999–2000 season reverted to white numbers with purple trim, but have eliminated the drop shadow, and the side stripes now run through the jersey. Even though they're the only NBA team to wear a color other than white at home on a regular basis, they did introduce a white alternate home jersey in the 2002–03 season. The white jerseys were designed by Lakers owner Jerry Buss' daughter Jeanie Buss, in tribute to Chick Hearn, who was regarded as the voice of the team for forty years until his death in August 2002. It is also noted that the wordmark "Lakers" was slightly slanted for much of the 1970s and early 1980s, but was straightened and streamlined starting with the 1986-87 season. In the mid-1980s, the Lakers road uniforms don't always match the same shade of purple. During this period, the Lakers road jersey would be bluish purple, while the shorts are of the lighter shade and vice versa.

Since the 2007–08 season, the Lakers also wear special edition home uniforms for NBA's Noche Latina events. The uniforms are similar to the Sunday whites, but with the wordmark "Los Lakers". For the 2013–14 season, the Lakers wore a sleeved version of the 'Noche Latina' uniforms, with "Los Lakers" in gold with purple trim, and greyscale patterns at the back.

In a rather unusual move, the team wore their home gold uniforms on the road in their December 23, 2007 game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden as opposed to their purple away uniforms (the Knicks themselves were wearing white), but both the Lakers and the Knicks were wearing throwback uniforms during the game, so the Lakers home gold uniforms were older versions. This was the game that Kobe Bryant surpassed Wilt Chamberlain as the youngest player to reach 20,000 points. Similarly, they wore the gold uniforms in a game against the Sixers two nights before with both teams again wearing throwback uniforms.[2] They wore their 1971–72 home uniforms on February 10, 2011 against the Celtics, who wore their 1956–57 white home throwbacks. They would wear them again the next day against the Knicks, who wore their 1969–70 throwbacks (incorrectly set to the 1991–92 away design) and on February 13 against the Orlando Magic.

In a home game vs. the Boston Celtics on December 30, 2007, the Lakers again wore their gold throwbacks, but wore short shorts from the 1980s in the first half and returned to the longer ones for the second half. During the 2007–08 season, the Lakers wore a 60 year logo to celebrate their 60th season in the NBA.

For the 2013–14 season, the Lakers unveiled a black uniform for the first time in franchise history. Dubbed 'Hollywood Nights', the uniform is in black with purple and gold trim. They debuted the uniform on the road against the Brooklyn Nets on November 27, 2013, and were used for select Friday home dates. A variation of the 'Hollywood Nights' jerseys, featuring sleeves, was unveiled for the 2014–15 season.

References

  1. ↑ NBA.com - Going Retro: Los Angeles Lakers
  2. ↑ ESPN - Los Angeles vs. New York - Recap - December 23, 2007

External links

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