What was your favorite NBA jersey you owned growing up?

14-12-2022
5 min read

The NBA is encouraging fans around the world to rock their favorite NBA jerseys for the third-annual #NBAJerseyDay on Dec. 14.

In honor of #NBAJerseyDay, our NBA.com staff discusses each of their favorite NBA jerseys they owned growing up. Whether it was a player on your favorite team or your favorite player from a random team, everyone had that one jersey they always couldn't wait to wear.

What was yours? Here are some of our personal favorites.

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Kyle Irving (@KyleIrv_): This is a tough decision. My Rajon Rondo Boston Celtics jersey and Kevin Durant Oklahoma City Thunder jersey are two that I wore the most, but I'd have to say my favorite – because it was more unique where I'm from – was my white Steve Nash Phoenix Suns jersey.

Nash is one of my favorite players of all-time. I wore No. 13 for every basketball team I played for growing up because of him. In fact, I still keep his rookie card in my car to this day, because what else am I supposed to do with it? Where I'm from, no one else had a Nash jersey or even a Phoenix Suns jersey for that matter, so that made it all that more special to me.

Scott Rafferty (@crabdribbles): Toronto's Dino jersey will forever hold a special place in my heart. It's a cool jersey, first and foremost, but some of my earliest basketball memories are of watching Tracy McGrady (my favorite player of all-time) and Vince Carter wearing them.

As you can probably imagine, I was pretty excited when the Raptors brought them back last season. It's just too bad we didn't get to see Kawhi Leonard rocking it.

Carlan Gay (@TheCarlanGay): There are two jerseys that defined my childhood. A Buffalo Bills No. 7 Doug Flutie jersey (shoutout to #BillsMafia) and No. 8 purple and gold Kobe Bryant

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I had other basketball jerseys before the Kobe No. 8, but I didn't love them like I loved Kobe.

There are very few iconic jerseys in sports: the Yankees, the Celtics, Montreal Canadiens, Maple Leafs and of course the Lakers. 

I just wish I could still fit in my No. 8 Kobe jersey. It would save me from having to buy a new one!

Gilbert McGregor (@GMcGregor21): Anyone that knew me growing up knows that jerseys were my thing, so it's pretty hard to choose just one.

With all of the jerseys that come to mind – the majority of which were Hornets (from Glen Rice and Vlade Divac to Baron Davis and Chris Paul) – the one that stands out to me as a favorite was my No. 8 Kobe jersey. I feel like for my generation, that No. 8 jersey had mythical powers. When you threw it on, you just felt different.

It helps that I also had Lakers shorts and a shooting shirt to go with it, so when it was time to play hoops in my hallway, the No. 8 was going on. That feeling was impossible to beat.

Benyam Kidane (@BenyamKidane): The first jersey you ever owned always takes a special place, so I've got to go with the mid-2000s era Allen Iverson, Philadelphia 76ers home jersey.

Once I put on the AI jersey in 2003, you couldn't tell me I wasn't Allen Iverson on the playground. I wore that thing everywhere.

Everything about this uniform screams mid-2000s, from the font, to the baggy fit, to AI rocking it on the cover of Like Mike alongside Lil' Bow Wow. What else do you want?