The United States men’s national basketball team will be playing in newly designed uniforms from Nike in the FIBA World Championships, set to kick off this summer in Turkey. Highly touted as being the best in cutting edge lightweight material, Nike has eliminated more than 13 inches of fabric from a typical basketball jersey. The back of the jersey will feature Nike’s team specific ‘aerographics’.
Aside from the extra tailoring, the stylization of the uniform is relatively similar to those worn by the team in the Beijing Olympics in 2008. For this rendition, however, the shorts are the big story, as far as international basketball clothing news goes. Thanks to Nike's new Hyperelite design, the shorts are about half as light as a normal basketball short when dry. Get them wet – like, you know, from sweating during a game – and they're even better, weighing less when soaked (10.1 oz.) than a normal pair does when dry (13.6).
According to national team member Durant, the little changes to the kit “add a couple inches to your vertical.” Though unlikely, players are becoming more and more fascinated with the advantages of lightweight apparel.
The new uniforms will make their debut at this summer's World Basketball Festival in New York City, where Team USA will be joined by China, Brazil, Puerto Rico and France who will also being wearing the Hyperelite uniforms.
