On Wednesday evening, Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert teased the team’s new alternate uniforms on Twitter, and the images he posted were...something.
1 of these 3 will debut tonight at @CavsWGUnited event as a new @Cavs uni. Here's a sneak peek. Which is your fav? pic.twitter.com/wjthgMhSSv
— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) October 21, 2015
The entire basketball Internet understandably ripped the new designs to shreds, and Gilbert followed it up with a tweet clarifying that he was just kidding:
Everybody calm down. We hear you @cavs fans. OK fine. We will roll out the REAL uniforms tonight. And they strong...😉
— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) October 21, 2015
Then, the team unveiled their real new alternates:
Are these three better? @Cavs will be wearing ALL three this season... pic.twitter.com/1LdO74wfvI
— Dan Gilbert (@cavsdan) October 22, 2015
Two of these are excellent. The “Hardwood Classics” jersey (worn by Iman Shumpert in the photo Gilbert posted) is a throwback to the uniforms they wore from 1974 to 1980. The so-called “CavFanatic” jerseys (modeled by Mo Williams above) are an update of their 1980s design, which they also wore occasionally during LeBron James’ last year in Cleveland before he left for Miami.
That leaves the “Pride” model, which Richard Jefferson is wearing in the photo above. It’s...a black sleeved jersey that looks like a warmup shirt. Those need to stop being a thing. But two out of three isn’t bad.
