If you're one of those Trail Blazers fans who likes to match their gameday outfit with what the team is wearing, you will be happy to know that the NBA has made the chore of finding out what colors to go with much easier this season. Today, the NBA released the latest version of their LockerVision website, which has detailed information about which uniforms all 30 teams are wearing for all 82 of their regular season contests this season, including your own Portland Trail Blazers. The way the process for selection works is the home teams select which jersey option they'd like to wear, then the road team gets to select a contrasting uniform, though often times the road team selections are limited due to not having more contrasting options. A small committee of players (in Portland's case, Damian Lillard) meet with the basketball operations and marketing departments to decide which jerseys they're going to wear, a process whose completion has made the launch of LockerVision possible. So now, rather than waiting on some lazy journalist to tweet which uniform options the team is wearing just a few hours before tipoff, you can schedule out your gameday finery in advance for the entire season. Well, at least eventually you will once all of the uniform options have been released. While the "Icon" (black), "Association" (white) and "Statement" (red) jerseys remain unchanged for the 2018-19 season, there are two other new editions that have not yet been released. So even though all the dates are set, Portland's "City" edition uniform and a fifth alternate uniform option (more on that in the next few weeks) have not yet been released. However, we do know that the "City" editions, which change every year, are scheduled to be unveiled on November 8, will be available for purchase at the Rip City Clothing Co. on November 9 and will be worn for the first time in the November 11 home game versus the Boston Celtics. So that's something to look forward to. You'll have to wait quite a bit longer for the debut of the fifth alternate uniform option, which won't be unveiled until Christmas morning. Now, you're probably thinking to yourself, "That version must be the one they're going to wear in their Christmas Day game against the Jazz!" And while that's an eminently reasonable assumption, it actually won't be the case, as broadcast color restrictions disallow such a move. As in, there isn't enough contrast between the Trail Blazers' fifth uniform option and the Jazz's, which makes it difficult for some fans, particularly those who are color blind, to tell the teams apart.So while those jerseys will be unveiled Christmas Day and will be available for purchase on December 26, they won't get their on-court debut until the December 29 game versus the Warriors at the Moda Center.
Here's the breakdown of which uniforms the Trail Blazers will wear this season...
Association Edition (white): 32 total (17 home, 15 road)Icon Edition (black): 26 total (11 home, 15 road)Statement Edition (red): 6 total (3 home, 3 road)City Edition (new): 15 total (8 home, 7 road)Alternate Edition (new): 3 total (2 home & 1 road)