Nike will be taking over as the official uniform manufacturer for the NBA starting in the 2017-18 season as soon as Adidas' deal with the league expires.
According to Paul Lukas of Uni-Watch, one of Nike's priorities is getting rid of the often-criticized sleeve jerseys that Adidas introduced in 2013. Not only were players generally disgusted and annoyed with the sleeved jerseys but they weren't selling as well as Adidas and the league had hoped.
"Nike, meanwhile, is expected to present its initial NBA jersey designs to retailers beginning this week. The company said it doesn’t plan to produce sleeved jerseys, a style debuted by Adidas in 2013 that received mixed reviews from players and fans."
More than half of the teams in the league currently have at least one sleeved alternate jersey in their repertoire, including the Cavs who wore them during their epic championship run. That said, we all know how Nike athlete LeBron James truly feels about the constricting sleeved uniforms.
In it's final season as the NBA's official uniform manufacturer Adidas appears to be completely mailing it in, as evidenced by their unimaginative and lackluster All-Star uniforms which you can check out here.
