In part one, the worst Cleveland Cavalier uniforms in the past decade were discussed. There have been 22 different Cavs uniforms over the past decade. Continuing the series, the next five Cavalier uniforms will be ranked. This time around, places 18 to 14 will be ranked.
18. 2017-Current Icon
Rather than typical home and road uniforms, the NBA now has icon and association uniforms. When Nike took over NBA uniforms in 2017, each NBA team got three standard uniforms known as the icon, association and statement uniforms. Simply put, the home team gets to pick between their icon, association or statement jerseys and then the road team selects their jersey.
Cleveland’s icon uniform lands at 18. The icon jersey deploys the typical wine and gold color scheme with hints of navy. Overall, the main problem with this uniform kit is the navy numbers and navy border seen throughout the uniform. This jersey places navy next to the Cavalier wine color, this simply does not work well. While the navy numbers are outlined in gold, it still does not look the best. The navy seen throughout the uniforms sometimes looks like black since it is placed next to another dark color. If this jersey instead mostly used just wine and gold, it could have been miles better.
17. 2012-17 Home Alt
Next, is the Cavaliers’ home alternate from 2012 to 2017. Before Cleveland’s current uniform set, their jerseys were very basic. There were no major issues with the Adidas Cavs uniforms from 2010 to 2017. If anything, these Adidas jerseys were mediocre and just lacked details. The first Adidas jersey to appear on this list is the home alternate. All yellow uniforms are pretty loud at times, but this home alternate was still a decent uniform.
16. 2017-Current Statement
At 16 is another uniform belonging to Cleveland’s typical three jersey rotation. NBA statement jerseys are basically a team’s main alternate uniform. Cleveland’s statement uniform is all black with wine numbers and accents of gold. The Cavaliers only have five all black uniforms in franchise history. In six years, Cleveland has worn three different all black jerseys. Clearly, Cavs fans seem to like the black color scheme alongside the traditional wine and gold. For an alternate uniform, a black color scheme was the right pick. For the most part, Cleveland has typically gone with all gold or navy uniforms for alternates. People are probably liking the all black since it is new and refreshing for the Cavalier franchise.
The current Cleveland statement jersey places a Cavalier logo on the chest. Team logos placed on the chest above the jersey number can look very awkward or odd. This is the case with the Cavalier statement uniform. The previously mentioned “The Land” uniform, placed the phrase “The Land” above the front number. Instead of placing a Cavalier logo above the front number, the phrase “The Land” in wine outlined in gold could have been better.
15. 2018-19 Earned
The NBA’s earned uniforms are given to teams who made the playoffs in the previous NBA season. After appearing in the 2018 NBA playoffs, the Cavaliers received their earned uniforms during the 2018-19 regular season. This jersey just switched the color scheme of Cleveland’s 2018-19 city uniform. The main colors deployed in this earned uniform was white and icy blue. In addition, the story behind the uniforms is a neat one. The earned jerseys are colored this way to represent the cold Cleveland winters, and it represents Lake Erie freezing during the winter months.
Overall, this is a pretty nice uniform with a good backstory. Certainly this uniform appeals to anyone who is a fan of clean white uniforms. The only reason this jersey does not place higher on the list is due to the lazy design. Instead of designing a new jersey, the colors of the 2018-19 city edition uniform were simply changed.
14. 2018-19 City
Coming in at 14 is Cleveland’s 2018-19 city edition uniform. This is the same exact uniform as the previously listed 2018-19 earned uniform. Instead of white and icy blue, this jersey uses the throwback Cavalier colors orange and blue. The Cavs franchise used a orange and blue color scheme during the 1980s and 1990s. During the 1980s, the Cavaliers used blue and orange as the main colors with accents of white. During the 1990s, Cleveland used a lot of black with accents of orange and light blue. Over the years, the orange and blue color scheme has reappeared on new Cavalier alternates.
Unlike past Cleveland retro alternates, the 2018-19 uniform blended the 1980s color scheme with the 1990s uniform design. Some changes were made to the 1990s jersey design, but it still had the recognizable sharp cut across the chest. Many people disliked this city uniform, but it did have a good backstory with a good color scheme. It was refreshing to see a twist on the Cavs’ 1980s and 1990s retro alternates.
In part three of ranking Cleveland uniforms from the past decade, five more uniforms will be discussed. This time uniforms ranked from 13 to 9 will be covered. Be sure to check out the remaining Cavalier uniform articles!
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