The Washington Wizards have the most patriotic uniforms going in the NBA playoffs when they play at home. The brilliantly-designed home white uniforms come with a perfect touch of the stars and stripes, and it manages not to go overboard with the patriotism so often seen on uniforms these days. It is a beautiful look, and one Washington will continue to keep in the rotation in the years to come.
Our Stars & Stripes jerseys are coming back.
Re-introducing our home playoff uniforms.#DCFamily pic.twitter.com/pukdR0h16w
— Washington Wizards (@WashWizards) March 28, 2017
Unfortunately for fans, finding replica jerseys in the style of those worn at home during the playoffs are nearly impossible to find, and it looks as though fans may be out luck if they are hoping their favorite retailers will receive new stock. You can’t even buy the uniforms in the official team store at the Verizon Center or the NBA’s online store. Does the NBA hate taking your money? We know that is not the case. So why the shortage of such a great look for D.C.’s basketball team?
The reason for the lack of merchandise to sell is the upcoming uniform apparel contract that is about to change from Adidas over to Nike next season. There was a restricted number of jerseys originally made for selling to fans and because it takes time to make more jerseys, it was deemed to be a safer move to not bother making more jerseys if they were not going to be ready for another few months, when the season is potentially over and stores are more interested in marking down merchandise on the clearance racks to make room for the incoming inventory Nike will be supplying in the months to come.
“Unfortunately, the way uniform ordering goes for retail, there’s a long lead time,” senior VP of marketing brand & strategy at Monumental Hunter Lochmann said, according to The Washington Post. “If we wanted to order more, we wouldn’t have gotten them until June. It was disappointing because we saw how popular they became, but it is what it is. There’s not really anything we can do about it.”
From a retailers standpoint, June is not the best time to receive outdated merchandise. This is especially true when a new apparel company is set to introduce a brand new line of merchandise. That means retailers have to clear out a little more merchandise than they may typically need to account for.
With retailers essentially out of stock on this postseason’s best uniform, the best place to go is ebay. You’ll probably find them right along with those NES Classic systems that have been hoarded by scalpers.
