I originally posted this on my main blog, Cardboard History, as the
first post in a series covering every NBA team. Each post takes on
average 7 hours to create, so I have only done four of them so far. I
have updated it for this post on Nothing But Nets. You can see the
original post by clicking
HERE.
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I have chosen the
Nets, my favorite team and the one I am the most knowledgeable about to
kick off this look at all the different jerseys worn by the teams- or at
least those that appear on trading cards in my collection.
Current Logo: (All team logos shown in this series have been cropped off of the backs of 2015-16 Complete base cards)
History:
Founded in 1967 as the New Jersey Americans, the team now known as the
Nets was one of the charter ABA franchises, and the only one to directly
challenge an NBA team for city supremacy, a rivalry that is still
ongoing all these years later. The team played one year as the
Americans, and there are, to my knowledge, no cards whatsoever that show
any Americans players.
For the 1968-69 season, the
team was rebranded as the New York Nets, after a move to Long Island,
and would remain the New York Nets for the remainder of the ABA's
history.
The first Nets cards would appear in the
1971-72 Topps set, but the jerseys are poorly shown at best. These
jerseys worn in this set would not appear again. In fact, I have no clue
what the road uniform looks like beyond what appears on the card shown.
 |
| 1971-72 Topps #199 |
Home white
 |
| 1971-72 Topps #182 |
Road Red
I suspect they may have
looked like the second New Jersey era road jersey, only red instead of
blue. I looked on YouTube but was not able to find any footage of any
Nets games before 1974.
With the 1972-73 season, the
Nets debuted the jerseys they would wear for the longest time in
franchise history- with only minor changes these would be the primary
Nets uniform up to and including 1989-90! In fact, the Home Whites did
not change at all. They were worn in the ABA as the New York Nets, in
the NBA as the New York Nets, and in the NBA as the New Jersey Nets!
 |
| 1984-85 Star #93 |
The Road Blues, however, are a different story.
Originally, in the ABA and the Nets' only NBA season as the New York
Nets, they looked like this:
 |
| 1977-78 Topps #127 |
(not visible: there was a white stripe with blue
stars to the left of the red stripe. You can just barely see some of the
white stripe on his leg. The jersey was essentially a reverse of the
home uniform)
But in 1977 the Nets moved back to New
Jersey, which meant the uniform had to be changed. The New York wording
was replaced with "Nets" and New Jersey was added vertically in the red
stripe. The Nets would wear these uniforms from 1977-78 through 1989-90.
The white Home jersey has also been worn several times as a Throwback.
 |
| 1989-90 Fleer #95 |
In 1982-83 and 1983-84 the Nets also wore what I
believe may be the first alternate jerseys in NBA history. I may not be
correct as both seasons were before I was born, and the photographic
evidence on cards is slim- and also appears from seasons where the
normal jerseys also appear. These uniforms are significantly rare to see
on cards- I am aware of only one card for home and two for road
jerseys. To my knowledge, there were no cards produced when these were
current to show the road blue.
 |
| 1984-85 Star #93 |
 |
| 2003-04 Finite #114 |
For 1990-91, the Nets rebranded with a new logo and
new uniforms. The team colors remained red, white and blue, and once
again, the home uniform stayed the same while the road blue changed
after only one year.
 |
| 1996-97 Skybox Star Ruby #171 |
The road blues started out not as a solid blue, but
with white "fading" starting at the bottom and getting progressively
lighter as it goes up. Like most of the complex jersey designs in NBA
history it did not last long, in fact it was used during 1990-91 only.
 |
| 1991 Starting Lineup |
Beginning in 1991-92, and lasting until 1996-97, the
road jerseys were solid blue. The blue was also slightly, but
noticeably, darker.
 |
| 1995-96 Topps Gallery #106 |
In 1997-98 the Nets rebranded again, and would find
their greatest NBA success wearing these uniforms, going all the way to
the NBA finals in both 2001-02 and 2002-03. The team was then broken up
and never again achieved such success.
 |
| 1999-00 Impact #40 |
 |
| 2003-04 SP Authentic #53 |
Although it does not generally show on card images, the lettering on
the road blue and the borders of the letters and numbers on the home
jersey is not actually white- it's metallic silver. I was quite
surprised to learn this when I pulled my first Nets patch card. It
doesn't show as metallic on TV either, but I soon learned that multiple
teams were using metallics in their jerseys.
 |
| 2001-02 Fleer Platinum Name Plates |
|
The Nets also had two versions of an alternate gray
uniform, which was pretty much the same as the blue road uniform, only
gray. The gray version (either) is my favorite Nets uniform.
The first version, with blue numbers, was used in 1998-99 and 1999-00.
 |
| 1999-00 Ultra #9 |
The second version, with white lettering, was used in
2000-01 through mid 2004-05, when production issues led to the jerseys
not fitting properly and choking the players.
 |
| 2003-04 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection #65 |
Beginning in 2006-07, the Nets introduced a red
alternate. This would remain the alternate through 2008-09, and then,
for the Nets' final two years in New Jersey, would be the main road
jersey, replacing the blue.
 |
| 2011-12 Hoops #147 |
In 2012-13, under new ownership, the Nets moved back
to New York, and rebranded themselves the Brooklyn Nets. For the first
time in team history, Red, White & Blue were not the team colors,
replaced by rather bland black and white.
 |
| 2014-15 Hoops #63 |
 |
| 2013-14 Panini Prizm Greem Prizm #139 |
The Nets have also added several alternates to the lineup- all of which are sleeved.
Beginning in 2013-14 and still in use, the main alternate is gray with blue lettering.
 |
| 2015-16 Gold Standard #59 |
The
second alternate, which debuted in 2014-15 and is
also still in use, is somewhat modeled on the design worn
from 1972-89. Barely visible in this photo is the black stripe that runs
down under the left sleeve with three large white stars on it. This
jersey is starting to appear on more cards than in my original post, but
none that clearly show the stars down the side. You can see portions
of them on this card, though. (This set did not yet exist when I made
the original post!)
 |
| 2015-16 Black Gold Uncommon #16 |
In addition to the standard alternates, the Nets also
played on Christmas 2013, where every team wore special uniforms. These
jerseys were sleeved and did not feature a number on the front- highly
unusual. The basketball design behind the B was actually a metallic
silver.
 |
| 2013-14 Select #121 |
The Nets also played on Christmas 2012, the first
season that all teams playing wore special jerseys. That first season
did not have sleeves, and every team playing that day wore jerseys where
all writing on the jersey was the same color as the jersey itself. (a
concept I hated, personally). To my knowledge there are no cards that
show that Nets uniform, but there is a
video on YouTube that has game highlights.
