NBA and Adidas Roll Out First-Name Christmas Jerseys

The NBA and Adidas officially unveiled a new way to sell more jerseys this holiday season: Put the players and fans on a first-name basis.

The 10 teams set to play on Christmas — the Washington Wizards, New York Knicks, Oklahoma City Thunder, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Cleveland Cavaliers, L.A. Lakers, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors and L.A. Clippers — will sport the new NBA Holiday Collection gear for their games. Only Nene, of the Wizards, will be saved from the gambit.

Adidas said in a statement that the new jerseys serve “as a nod to [the players] familiarity and popularity with the NBA fan base around the world,” which makes sense when you consider LeBron, Kobe and Carmelo. But who would want to pay $109.95 for Tim [Duncan], John [Wall] and Kevin [Durant] jerseys? Every hoops-obsessed Tim, John and Kevin, of course.

The real question is how did they not think of this sooner? They put sleeves on the jerseys last year.