Gallery: Best NBA retro jerseys
By Page 2 staff

If 2003 is truly to be "The Year of the Retro," then our list of the top 10 NBA retro jerseys is a good place to start. Vote in the poll to the right to vote for your favorite. After voting, you'll move forward to our favorite NFL retros.

1. Reggie Theus, 1987-88 Sacramento Kings road
To hide the names on the back of their jerseys as best they could, the woeful Kings (who went 24-54 that year) put the names on the back below the digits. ESPN.com request: Can you make us a Joe Kleine version?

2. Alex English, 1987-88 Denver Nuggets home
Long gone are the days when an NBA jersey would feature five different colors. If you think the 1980 Houston Astros rainbow jersey is so ugly you absolutely have to have it, here's the NBA version.

3. Moses Malone, 1975-76 Spirits of St. Louis road
It's hard to resist that bright orange polyester with a drawing of Charles Lindbergh's plane that is so sketchy it couldn't have even crossed Atlanta, let alone the Atlantic.

4. Rick Barry, 1966-67 San Francisco Warriors home
The backs of jerseys these days are all the same: name, number, numbness. At least on this jersey, Rick Barry's number is enclosed in a streaking cable car with a ringing bell going off. The Golden Gate Bridge on the front is an architectural bonus.

5. Austin Carr, 1975-76 Cleveland Cavaliers home
One of the most underrated throwbacks on the market, this gold jersey with maroon lettering is the perfect complement for the family Thanksgiving gathering. Yes, that white-and-red "masking-tape"-style trim is intentional.

6. David Thompson, 1975-76 Denver Nuggets road
Apparently, the old-school Nuggets never outsourced their logos to a design firm: from preschool drawing-hour straight to the hardwood! The image of the gold nugget under the pickaxe alone is worth the $300 price tag for this piece of yarn.

7. "Pistol" Pete Maravich, 1971-72 Atlanta Hawks road
Perhaps it's the garish design that makes this jersey so ironically hot. But it's probably the "Pistol" (literally in quotes), rather than his last name, on the back that makes this so memorable.

8. Bob McAdoo, 1974-75 Buffalo Braves road
When you can't decide on what retro jersey you like, going with a defunct franchise is never a bad option. The superscript "c" within the name on the back is key.

9. George Mikan, 1949-50 Minneapolis Lakers
Even though the Los Angeles Lakers wore this jersey style in a game last season and Nike's mass-production cooled the buzz, it's still powder blue (the hottest jersey color), there's still a punctuationally correct "period" after "MPLS," it's the outrageous No. 99 and it's Mikan, the original. Well, who cares who wore it -- it looks good!

10. Wes Unseld, 1977-78 Washington Bullets away
Before LeBron launched this classic into the pop-culture consciousness, there was the one-of-a-kind design: two hands grabbing for a rebound (much like Wes himself), doubling as the "L"s in "Bullets." An inspired marriage of design and functionality. (If owner Abe Pollin thought the name "Bullets" was offensive, it's a good thing the logo was changed from its '60s design: Literally a bullet whizzing through the air.)

For more retro jerseys or purchase, check out distant-replays.com.





ALSO SEE:


Gallery: Best NFL retro jerseys

Gallery: Best MLB retro jerseys

Gallery: Best NHL retro jerseys

Caple: Closet of Dreams

Neel: Let's customize those throwbacks

Old-school is new again





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