Lakers continue ‘Lore Series’ with new unis inspired by Shaq

At long last, the Los Angeles Lakers have unveiled their “City” jerseys for the 2019-20 season. However, unlike the 29 other teams in the NBA, the Lakers’ alternate jerseys aren’t inspired by the city their team represents — they’re centered around the team’s legendary players.

Last season, Magic Johnson got to put his twist on the the iconic Lakers jersey and the season before that, Kobe Bryant helped design the popular “Black Mamba” unis. This season, the Lakers Lore Series continues with Shaquille O’Neal, who spent eight years in Los Angeles and led the team to three consecutive championships from 2000 to 2002.

The jersey itself doesn’t look much different from the gold home jerseys they wore before the 2018-19 season, but there are a few big differences.

Aside from the tributes to The Big Aristotle — including the “MDE” on the white trim for the “Most Dominant Ever” — the Lakers logo across the chest is different than the one they have currently. Unlike the current logo, the one on this jersey has a huge, purple drop shadow with white lettering as opposed so the purple lettering they’ve used throughout their history.

Additionally, the jerseys and shorts have stars on the side panels with the numbers of the players whose jerseys hang in the rafters at Staples Center, including Shaq himself. There also appears to be a touching tribute to the late Dr. Jerry Buss on the shorts, too.

Overall, it’s an improvement from last year’s pinstripe jerseys, but not by much. The Lakers already have a gold jersey, so it was disappointing to see the team play it safe with another one.

Jerseys almost always look better on the court than they do hanging up, so let’s hope that’s the case with these new unis.

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