Will NBA players wear special jerseys for Christmas 2023? What are the best Christmas Day uniforms?

NBA games on 25 December is now a staple diet in the US sports calendar with this year being no exception with five high profile match-ups scheduled for Christmas Day.

Since 1947, the NBA has played games on Christmas Day with one exception during the 1998-99 lockout season. The first NBA Christmas game featured the New York Knicks taking on the Providence Steamrollers with the team from the Big Apple overcoming with a 89-75 win at the old Madison Square Garden.

One of the aspects of the games on 25 December was the launch of the Christmas Day jerseys which were donned by the NBA teams in action on Christmas Day from 2008 through 2016. There were five different styles used across that time period.

Designs included NBA snowflake logos, Christmas card style jerseys or playing shirts bearing the first names of the players in action on-court with the bright vivid monochrome jerseys being a particular fan favourite.

The tradition came to an end in 2017 as Oregon sportswear giants Nike took over the NBA’s uniform contract from Adidas in 2017 and declined to continue the festive jerseys of its German based predecessor.

Despite pleas in the past from fans and players alike, Nike have been unflinching in not developing a range of Christmas Day jerseys, at least for the moment so fans tuning in tomorrow will see the teams in their regular season attire.