A large component of what makes the NBA so marketable is the jerseys that players wear. Every fan wants their favorite player’s jersey and teams usually put out 3 or more strips every season. This obviously has a practical purpose too, it helps when teams wear different colored jerseys on the court so that there’s no confusion between players that are playing an extremely fast-paced game.
These things are often decided before the game and the home team usually wears the kit of their choice and the road team is expected to adjust. However, when the Memphis Grizzlies faced the Oklahoma City Thunder on Sunday night, there was a confusion just before the tip-off as both teams turned up in all-white jerseys to start the game.
Soooooo both teams are wearing white jerseys…
brb gotta make a jersey change pic.twitter.com/ErXdURxRKd
— Grizzlies On FanDuel Sports Network (@FDSN_Grizzlies) March 13, 2022
There was a bit of a scramble for the teams’ equipment managers and the game was delayed a bit to allow the Grizzlies to head back into the locker room and change into their blue uniforms. Something like this happens quite rarely in the NBA as teams are usually aware of what strip the other will be wearing, making this a fairly hilarious situation between the two sides.
This isn’t exactly too rare for OKC though, they found themselves in a similar situation just last season in a game against the Atlanta Hawks. The Hawks were wearing red and OKC came out in their orange strip but the ensuing confusion meant that they had to change into whites at half-time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jj_QNzPjmSA
The jerseys didn’t influence the game too much, and the Grizzlies ran out as the eventual winners despite a valiant effort by Darius Bazley and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. It seems that there isn’t much that fazes this tenacious Grizzlies team and they had 6 players scoring 12 points or more in the win. They continue their bid to stay in the 2nd seed spot in the Western Conference and whatever jersey they have to wear, it’s unlikely to slow them down.
