The 2022-23 Pistons will “frequently” don the jerseys that Grant Hill, Jerry Stackhouse, and so many others made famous.
If you’re a kid from the 1990s, you remember.
You remember Grant Hill gliding down the court in a giant graphic teal Detroit Pistons jersey with a flaming horse and fire coming out of literal exhaust pipes with black, yellow, and red trim. It’s a relic of 90s-era nostalgia — the perfect embodiment of the graphic jerseys in colors like teal and purple that swept through professional sports.
The cult favorites will be back in Motown next season for a one-year run in their original form (aside from a white United Wholesale Mortgage jersey patch). The Pistons announced Monday that they will wear those iconic jerseys on select dates as their Classic Edition unis.
“We’re excited about this,” Pistons’ chief business officer Mike Zavodsky said. “Our fans have been asking for this, particularly the generation of fans that grew up with it. They asked for it and we’re bringing it back.”
Zavodsky says he’s heard the request for years at games, events, and on social media. And teams that wore similar jerseys in the 90s like the Hawks, Hornets, Bucks, Grizzlies, Raptors, and Rockets have already brought them back to an extent in recent years.
“We felt like this was the right time, and I think the team that we’re gonna put on the court this year is going to be fun and exciting to watch,” Zavodsky said. “And if you think of some of the players that wore this uniform in the late 90s and early 2000s from Grant Hill to Ben Wallace, Jerry Stackhouse and Lindsey Hunter, you’ve got some personalities and players on our team that are somewhat reflective or emblematic of some of those guys that played then.”
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Guard Jaden Ivey, the fifth overall pick in June’s NBA Draft, modeled the jersey and joins a young, talented, and ascendant group of players, some of whom were not yet born when the Pistons wore the teal jerseys from 1996-01.
Cade Cunningham, the top pick of the 2021 draft, will have Ivey in the backcourt, Saddiq Bey on the wing, and Marvin Bagley, Isaiah Stewart, and 13th-overall pick Jalen Duren down low. They are all 23 years old and younger.
With the 2022-23 NBA schedule yet to be released, it’s not yet known how many times the Pistons will wear teal next season. But Zavodsky assured fans that the jerseys will be worn “frequently.” The uni release will also come with a partnership with DoorDash that will include an artist-designed apparel and merch collection in the teal color scheme with upcoming fan giveaways and other contests.
“The generation of players that are coming up now have a connection back to many of the players that were in that time period, and fashion recycles itself,” Zavodsky said. “The aesthetic just crosses over generations.”
So too, now, will these iconic Pistons jerseys that will surely be top sellers over the coming weeks and months.
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