The Denver Nuggets are probably revealing new jerseys this week. I say that because there is a growing mountain of evidence that that is the case. There are also a handful of clues as to what exactly those jerseys will look like (and what they will not look like). Let’s take a closer look at the evidence.

What’s in the box?

This arrived today. Wonder what's inside? pic.twitter.com/E2iAFqBgFe — Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) July 28, 2017

First off, anytime someone asks “what’s in the box?” it immediately reminds me of Se7en. So my initial thought was, “oh god, there’s a severed head in the box! Run, Nuggets! Don’t let your wrath overtake you! But on second look, the box is too flat for such an item so it’s not that.

Could it be new jersey’s? That seems like the likeliest answer, especially based on the rest of the evidence.

We know that Nike is bringing new jerseys throughout the NBA

As was reported on Stiffs a few weeks ago, Nike has shared the inspiration for their new jersey designs for each NBA team. To summarize, Nike is getting rid of the classic “home” and “away” jerseys and instead creating four jersey styles that each team will get to chose from. The “Association” jersey will replace the traditional home, white jerseys. The “Icon” jersey will replace the traditional away jerseys and will be the team’s primary color. So for the Denver Nuggets, likely powder blue unless they are changing back to navy blue of the 1990s, royal blue of the 1980s, or something completely new.

However, there will also be two alternate designs called “The Athlete’s Mindset” and “The Community” jerseys, respectively. Little is known about these two jerseys or what will inspire them. Nike provides this ambiguous teaser:

The two remaining core uniforms, inspired by the mindset of the NBA athlete and the communities that support their teams through thick and thin, respectively, will be revealed in the coming months.

Lastly, eight teams will have a fifth, “Classic Edition” jersey that appears to be some sort of throwback alternate.

It should be noted that Nike has said that they plan on announcing just two of the jerseys this July - the “Association” and “Icon” jerseys. The other two (or possibly three) will be announced later on. From Nike:

The first two editions of the NBA uniforms, which will be introduced by teams this summer and will make their on-court debut at the start of the season, are the Association and Icon editions. The two remaining core uniforms, inspired by the mindset of the NBA athlete and the communities that support their teams through thick and thin, respectively, will be revealed in the coming months.

So, all signs point toward the Nuggets revealing two jerseys, not four or five, sometime this week.

The Pacers just announced their jerseys

We can assume that this is the week of jersey unveiling since Nike said as much in their presser two weeks ago. The Indiana Pacers are the first team to reveal their new designs.

Our new look and Nike uniforms are here. Learn more about the inspiration and design at https://t.co/nq0ocByehL#WeGrowBasketballHere pic.twitter.com/ObUAIcXEtf — Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) July 29, 2017

This is a completely new design and possibly evidence that Nike will be going with something completely new for teams around the league. From a marketing perspective, this makes a lot of sense. Nike will almost certainly want to make their mark on each team with a new design to mark their takeover so I suspect that every team will have a new design. For some teams, like the Indiana Pacers, that design will be a large departure from their current design. For other teams, like the Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, and Los Angeles Lakers, the jerseys will likely be subtle changes such as slightly altered fonts, numbers, etc.

Predictions and questions

My guess is that whatever two jersey’s the Nuggets reveal in the coming days, it will be a completely new design. Since Denver doesn’t have a single unified theme throughout their history like the Lakers or Celtics, I think it is safe to think that the Nuggets redesign will be fairly dramatic. But there are a few big questions about the new jerseys that will likely be answered sometime this week or next.

The first question is what color will they chose? Powder blue was brought to Denver by Kiki Vandeweghe who was inspired by the color scheme of his alma mater, UCLA. Those colors represent one of Denver’s best eras, the 2003-2013 stretch in which the team made the playoffs for 10 straight seasons. However, the faces of that era are mostly gone. Carmelo Anthony was the most notable face of the era, along with George Karl, Allen Iverson, Chauncey Billups, and even Danilo Gallinari. Whether Denver goes back to a previous blue or chooses a new shade will be the first big question.

The second big question will be what logo they go with. Denver has had a handful of logos over the years that draw from completely different ideas and inspiration. Maxie Miner was first but feels like a relic of the ABA era of the Nuggets, cartoonish in a way that the NBA hasn’t seen for decades. The rainbow skyline is the most iconic logo - more on them below. The pickaxe logos have become more a part of the overall theme in recent seasons so that could be the focus of the design. Or it could be something completely new. The Pacers’ design didn’t feature a logo at all. Perhaps Nike is going away from logos and toward more simple, clean designs for the association and icon editions.

There is also the question about what the inspiration will be for the new design. In addition to introducing the new threads, the Pacers also introduced a new court, a new seal, and a new slogan: “We grow basketball here.” The jersey and court have a shared aesthetic and theme. The lines on the sides of the court, like the lines on the seal and the court, represent the rays of the sun and the rows of corn that represent the farmland of Indiana. The Nuggets will likely have something that serves as a core inspiration of the design. My bet is it will have something to do with the mountains.

The last big question is how the Nuggets will reveal the new uniforms. The Pacers announced theirs via a fairly underwhelming tweet that led to a fairly interesting interactive website that explained all of the details and inspiration. Then, they had the core members of their roster model the uniforms, including Myles Turner, T.J. Leaf, and...Lance Stephenson. Will Denver do something similar? Will they have a player (or players) modeling the new look? And if so, who will it be?

Nikola Jokic is the undisputed face of the franchise but he has been nearly completely off of the grid since the season ended, back in his home of Sombor, Serbia and staying away from social media. It’d be great to get our first images of the new designs with Jokic modeling them as a nod to the upcoming decade of Nuggets basketball and even better to get a #musclewatch2017 look at Joker to see if he is looking like Ivan Drago yet, but that is probably unlikely. My bet is that Jamal Murray will either be back in town or the model in any potential video that shows them off. Paul Millsap is probably the second likliest candidate with Gary Harris a distant third.

The design will likely not be the 80s skyline jerseys, but fear not Nuggets fans, that does not mean that the rainbow skylines are not coming back at all. I just think Nike is simultaneously trying to look forward and look back and that the first part of the reveal will be a look forward. If the rainbow skylines are going to return, they will likely return as “community” alternates or as “classic” alternates sometime this fall.

Whatever and whenever the announcement drops, we will have all of the info for you, right here on Denver Stiffs. Stay tuned...