Ranking the best Sixers jerseys of all time

Some things — like the Eagles bringing back their Kelly green uniforms — are worth the wait because they’re truly awesome. Others, well, it’s the wait itself that makes the wanting grow. And how you feel about this one likely depends on just how nostalgic your relationship with the early 2000s Philadelphia 76ers is.

On Tuesday, The Inquirer’s Matt Breen reported that there’s a good chance the Sixers bring back their black uniforms as a throwback option for the 2023-24 season. And no, not the Boathouse Row abomination that had us talking about the merits of “new Philadelphia.” We’re talking about the iconic black uniforms that debuted 25 years ago and became a staple of the Allen Iverson era on Broad Street.

Not just because he was wearing one when he stepped over Tyronn Lue, the black Sixers jerseys that Iverson and Co. rocked from 1997-2008 (with a slight tweak before the 2001 season) are iconic in Philadelphia, especially since at the time there wasn’t really much else in the city that looked like it. But the power of a Hall of Fame player and a pop culture icon — not to mention one of the most beloved athletes in city history — wearing that on a nightly basis cannot be overlooked.

» READ MORE: Sixers could soon be bringing back the black jerseys that started a ‘revolution’ 25 years ago

Luckily for them, if the Sixers do decide to bring those uniforms back in the near future, they’ll have another franchise icon in Joel Embiid to wear them, creating an entirely new generation of nostalgia for this look. But were those uniforms even that good? Or are they just overrated because of the player who wore them and the era in which they were worn — the Sixers’ most successful run since the early 1980s?

Here is one writer’s ranking of the five best Sixers uniforms of all time, plus a bonus look at the five best special edition uniforms, which are what the new black throwbacks will have to compete with the second time around.

First, let’s start with the standard uniforms ...

Is this a controversial pick? You bet. But if you go back and look at all the base jerseys for the Sixers over the years, they kind of start to blend together. I don’t want to say that they’re boring, but ... they are. Most Sixers jerseys over the years have some version of Sixers or “PHILA” (either in script or block letters) across the front. Some have piping, others don’t. Some have accents down the sides, many don’t. But at least this time — after a stretch in which NBA uniform redesigns were heavily regulated by the league — the team, or more appropriately, Champion, tried something different.

Just like there are a lot of fond memories associated with the Iverson era, the opposite can be said here. Do you really hate the jersey? Or the draft pick you most associate with it?

Bradley was a bust, but if Iverson spent the bulk of his career playing in these, you’d probably like them a lot more. But they were gone by 1995, the year before the team drafted Iverson, only lasting for three short seasons. With ‘90s style coming back, this look holds up better than expected.

» READ MORE: Now and then: How women’s uniforms have changed over the years

These are the uniforms that most closely resemble the current Sixers’ looks, which is wild considering they are more than 50 years old. But that block letter font is timeless, and the Sixers were right to go back to it in 2015, when they switched from the late Andre Iguodala era red-and-white uniforms into the look that has become a staple of what will surely be known as the Joel Embiid era.

There are some major differences. Obviously, there are the stars running down the side that weren’t there in the 1960s. Also, the Sixers’ away uniforms in the ‘60s were red, whereas todays away uniforms are blue — but the Sixers do have a red alternate with a scripted font that they currently use. Oh, and the shorts were much, much shorter. Still, there are more similarities than differences.

These might not have been the most memorable if not for the special City Edition uniform the Sixers rolled out this past season. But that navy-and-red look — and all the gear that accompanied it — was some of the best stuff the Sixers have put out, full stop.

As for the originals, just look at that beauty in the picture above. They even have the stars down the side that you see on the current uniforms.

If you could bottle the 1970s and put it on a jersey, I imagine it would look exactly like this.

» READ MORE: How will Thybulle be remembered as a Sixer if he’s traded this summer?

As we mentioned in the intro, there were actually two different uniforms in this period: one that was worn from 1997-2000 and another featuring wider sleeves and a shinier base material from 2000-08, but it’s the latter version that you’re likely more familiar with.

You may be wondering why I have these at No. 2 when many think they’re the best standard Sixers jersey of all time (not counting the special editions that we’ll get to in a bit). Several years ago, a former colleague of mine, Kyle Neubeck, pointed out the idea that these uniforms wouldn’t be remembered so fondly if not for the man who made them famous: Allen Iverson. Over time, he won me over to that line of thinking, especially since I don’t think these hold up as well as some others, including No. 5 on our list.

Are they cool? Sure. Are they made cooler by, at the time, being the only black Sixers jersey out there? Almost certainly. But there’s no doubt that if Shawn Bradley were holding up this jersey on draft day instead — and Iverson was rocking the stars and stripes jersey during the Sixers finals run — it’s not hard to imagine they’d hold very different legacies.

I mean, how are you not going to look cool while stepping over your opponent?

So far, we haven’t really talked much about alternate or third jerseys, but the shiny blue jerseys from this era deserve a shout-out here. They might be more divisive than my decision to include the stars and stripes.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid is the early favorite to win the 2023 NBA MVP

However, we’re including them here because they didn’t make our list of special/alternate jerseys. That’s because they’re not even the best blue uniform that Iverson has ever worn (we’ll get to that shortly).

This was the longest lasting Sixers uniform — and for good reason. It’s simple, it’s clean, it’s iconic. No notes from me on this jersey. It’s easy to see why it lasted so long (aside from the NBA tightening its uniform rules during this period) and why the team leaned so heavily into it in the latest rebrand.

It also didn’t hurt that these were the uniforms during the team’s last championship season.

» READ MORE: Mike Sielski: Daryl Morey’s trade for De’Anthony Melton shows he still has to fix the Sixers’ own mistakes

Now, let’s take a look at some jerseys and uniforms that only lasted for a single season, but we would’ve liked to have seen stick around a bit longer.

Two years after these debuted, the Sixers brought out very similar City Edition uniforms — this time with red scripted numbers and the full world “Philadelphia” appearing across the chest — but we’re giving the nod to these since they’re the original.

These were worn during Allen Iverson’s rookie season and were made famous thanks to his iconic SLAM magazine cover that year — which the publication re-created with Joel Embiid a few years ago.

» READ MORE: David Murphy: De’Anthony Melton is a perfect fit, but Morey, Sixers have only just begun

This should’ve been the season the Sixers made it back to their first NBA Finals since 2001, but Kawhi Leonard’s quadruple bounce put an end to that. They’re quite similar to that year’s City Edition uniforms — you know, the ones that looked like gray sweatpants — so we’re lumping them both together for our purposes here but giving the nod to the cleaner looking whites.

Some people didn’t like the fact that it looked like it said “eventy Sixers” on the jersey, but that feels like complaining just for the sake of complaining. These are beautiful, a throwback to an actual Sixers classic that didn’t get nearly enough love, and are different enough from what the team had been using.

They wore the original version of these for just a half season back in 1970-71, so these Billy Cunningham-era jerseys were the perfect choice to bring back out.

It simply doesn’t get better than this. These are going to be the benchmark for every Sixers special edition jersey going forward. And, at least from this writer’s perspective, they’re going to be nearly impossible to beat. Even the shorts and the colors running down the side bring something extra.

It all comes together for the best Sixers jersey of all time, whether that’s a regular jersey or special edition. We’re excited to see the black uniforms come back eventually, but we’re really hoping these don’t go anywhere.