Advertisement

NBA reportedly tells Lakers to switch from lucky black uniforms to gold for in-season tournament semifinal

They will go back to their gold Icon Edition uniforms for the game against the Pelicans

sean leahy
Contributing writer
·2 min read
110

The Los Angeles Lakers advanced to Thursday's NBA in-season tournament semifinals, and when they take the court at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, they will look a little different.

In their past four tournament games, the Lakers are 4-0 when wearing their all-black City Edition uniforms. But when they face the New Orleans Pelicans, they will go back to their gold Icon Edition uniforms, which they wore in their first game of the tournament against the Phoenix Suns.

Why mess with a lucky look? Because the NBA said so.

This embedded content is not available in your region.

From ESPN's Dave McMenamin:

The NBA is preventing the Lakers from wearing their black uniforms because of concerns over the visual contrast between the jerseys and the design of the specialized in-season court the semifinals will be played on at T-Mobile Arena, a source with knowledge of the subject told ESPN.

When one Lakers player was informed the team wouldn't be allowed to wear black on Thursday, he replied, "That's ass."

Lakers players embraced the look beyond just the uniforms. Rui Hachimura, who returned from a five-game absence due to a nasal fracture, wore a black protective face mask against the Suns. And LeBron James wore an all-black outfit — complete with thick, black Louis Vuitton sunglasses — to the arena for the game.

Here's a look at the blue-and-red floor the Lakers, Pelicans, Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks will play on this week:

The Pelicans will be in white, so there would be no contrast between the team uniforms, but the NBA doesn't like the idea of the Lakers' black versus the court's blue.

Black has been a good color for the Lakers in recent years. The Kobe Bryant tribute "Black Mamba" uniforms were worn during the team's run to the 2020 NBA title in the bubble. Now they'll have to settle for gold against the Pelicans and see which colors the league prefers, should they advance to the in-season tournament title game against the Pacers or Bucks.