The Los Angeles Lakers officially unveiled their new Nike jerseys for the 2018-19 season, paying homage to their ‘Showtime’ era that was led by the organization’s current president of basketball operations, Magic Johnson.
The new designs feature a shadow effect on the font, a round neckline, and the removal of side panels on the Icon (yellow) and Association (white) jerseys. The panels remain on the team’s Association (purple) jerseys, but the color has been switched from yellow to black.
The Lakers used marketing images of Lonzo Ball, Brandon Ingram and Kyle Kuzma in their official campaign, and Kuzma did a voiceover for the video that announced the launch.
With the formal unveiling came the opportunity for fans to purchase the new-look jerseys and other team merchandise Nike made available. Swingman and authentic versions of Association and Statement jerseys have not yet reached retail.
Nonetheless, there was plenty of enthusiasm with the announcement, and it led to one of the top selling days for the Lakers Store website, per ESPN’s Darren Rovell:
Selling of new jersey, with LeBron to sell, leads @LakersStore to third best online sales day in its history behind 2010 title win & day of Kobe’s retirement in 2016. pic.twitter.com/kBIIyyPpYg
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 1, 2018
The team’s store in El Segundo, which is across the street from their UCLA Health Training Center, shared photos of fans lined up before the location opened and lines inside their store.
Considering the initial response, it’s within reason to believe LeBron James will have one of, if not the, top-selling jersey in the NBA this season. And the Lakers should rank highly in team merchandise sales.
