For Lakers fans yearning for the franchise’s golden days, NBA Heritage Week has come at the perfect time. From Dec. 7-14, the league will relive its defining moments and celebrate the accomplishments of its greatest legends.
The Lakers will commemorate their 60th anniversary and their 1987-1988 championship team as part of the week long celebration, 20 years after the Magic Johnson-led Lakers defeated a physical Detroit Pistons squad to win the NBA title.
This Sunday, the Lakers will shed their usual Sunday whites, replacing them with NBA hardcourt classic jerseys, replicating the uniforms worn by the 1987-1988 team. The Lakers’ opponent — the Golden State Warriors — will wear throwback jerseys of their own for their home games on Friday and Tuesday.
While at first glance, the 1987-1988 jerseys might not appear drastically different from the Lakers’ current game wear, there are actually several notable changes.
For starters, while the Lakers infamous purple and gold color scheme has remained the same over the years, the current jerseys feature purple more prominently (i.e. lining down the side of the jersey) and have also added white as the prominent color featured in the jersey numbers, instead of the 1980’s purple, and removing the drop shadow.
The “Lakers” appearing on the front of the jerseys has also undergone some changes in the past two decades, with the old jersey featuring a much looser variation of the name and the current jerseys using a much bolder, more condensed logo. For example, the “L” and the “S” extend further out onto the jersey in the past version.
In addition, the fit around the neck has also changed, from rounded on the 1980’s jersey to a more V-neck-like shape on the jerseys now worn by the likes of Kobe and Odom.
Get all your Lakers Hardwood Classic Gear at Lakersstore.com
