Pacers introduce new uniforms, court, and logo

Last season for the Pacers was about celebrating their past, the 50 years that led them to present.

With the draft and free agency over, the franchise now turns its focus to this upcoming season, year 51. And with that, the Pacers introduced new uniforms on Friday at the River Fest Streetfest on the west side of Indianapolis.

It was held in the parking lot at The Kinney Group because of the ample space, and the hoops were set up for the Gus Macker 3-on-3 tournament over the weekend.

With hundreds of Pacers fans surrounding their new hardwood for the 2017-18 season, Lance Stephenson served as the face of this announcement.

(Crazy, considering he was at home rehabbing an ankle injury suffered on a 10-day contract four months ago…)

Stephenson made his way onto the court and pronounced that “This is my team.” Then, Myles Turner, Glenn Robinson III, plus rookie draft picks T.J. Leaf and Ike Anigbogu were introduced by public address announcer Michael Grady.

“When we went to design our uniform, we wanted to stay true to our traditional roots,” said Todd Taylor, the Pacers Chief Marketing Officer. “Obviously, basketball is special here. The city or the state name, and the nickname is something that you’ll find in some of the older jerseys.

“We wanted to take a concept that was really rooted in tradition, but work with Nike to make it a little bit more modern. That’s where you’ll see the speed lines on the side, a little bit more high energy to bounce off the ‘Indiana’ and ‘Pacers’ on the front.”

The Pacers are the rare team that now has both the name and nickname on the front of their jerseys. With their previous uniform, “Pacers” was on their home white, and “Indiana” was on their road blue.”

Nike, who is taking over for Adidas as the official uniform and apparel supplier of the NBA, has ditched the designation of home and away jersey.

So on Friday, the Pacers unveiled their Association (white) and Icon (navy blue) uniforms. Each team will have at least four uniform options. The other two are inspired from “The Athlete’s Mindset” and “The Community.”

“I like them,” Myles Turner said. “They’re a lot lighter than the Adidas uniforms and that’s going to play a factor in everything that we’re doing. I like them, it kind of looks like a college uniform.”

From Nike: The uniform is comprised of a combination of Alpha Yarns and recycled polyester (each athlete uniform represents approximately 20 recycled PET bottles). Not only does this yarn blend match Nike’s broad commitment to sustainability, it also removes moisture more quickly than previous NBA uniforms, wicking sweat 30-percent faster than current NBA uniforms.

The fans loved them some Born Ready. Stephenson was the last player to sign autographs. It’s crazy how he was without a job four months ago, and now he’s the face of this campaign. It also speaks to the Pacers and how they have retooled the roster, including trading Paul George.

“Oh I like it,” he said. “It feels good, extra light. It feels comfortable, so I’m ready.”

It looks like you’re wearing a smedium, I told him. “Yeah, yeah. I’m trying to lose weight so I’m trying to fit into this,” Stephenson replied, noting that he wants to lose another five pounds to get down to 220 before training camp in September.

You knew the Pacers weren’t going to do anything wild or go bold with their primary uniforms like Oregon. This is a simple, clean look that the majority of fans like. In a Twitter poll, more than 70 percent said they dug the new look.

“It’s got a nice style and feel to it,” said Glenn Robinson III. “It almost represents this year’s team, kind our custom look. We’ve got a little swag to us. We all love the new Nikes.”

This has been more than two years in the works. It’s what Taylor described as refreshing the brand.

“I didn’t think that we needed a rebrand because we’re still all about basketball,” he said. “But obviously we wanted to have something that was more modern and fresh.”

The Pacers did ask for input from the players, as they should. And most of those players aren’t here anymore. They asked them what uniforms they liked, and what specifically they liked about them.

“A uniform has a pretty lasting impact on an organization and the players are important, they’re the ones that were it and model it, but obviously we need to make it something that ties back to the brand of our organization,” Taylor said.

The Hickory uniforms will be back for the third installment. The Pacers originally signed a five-year deal with MGM in 2015.

The last time they changed uniforms was after Reggie Miller retired in 2005. A new era.

Well, with trading George, formerly the face of the team, and this team trending young, this marks the start of a new era.

In addition to a rebrand to the uniform the players will wear, the court also has been updated.

They got back to a traditional dark hardwood color rather than white/khaki.
Their primary logo replaces their circle global logo.
The area surrounding the court is now navy blue.
And remember that advertisement at the top in front of the home bench? You know, AStateThatWorks.com. It’s no more. They’re still a sponsor, but it will not be on the court. It is replaced by Pacers.com.

The Pacers also officially introduced a new secondary logo, which is in the shape of the state of Indiana. It will appear at both ends of the new court, and at the top of the team shorts where a belt would be.