Warriors Unveil New Look: Chinese Heritage Uniform

Posted on February 17, 2018 by John

Although I’ve lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1999, I only started following the NBA and the Golden State Warriors since they signed Jeremy Lin, and after Lin left – with the rise of Stephen Curry. On a demographic percentage basis, the San Francisco Bay Area probably has the largest Asian and Asian American population for any given NBA market – the 2010 census put’s that figure at 23.3%. And we also know that the NBA is huge in China:

“Under Xi, the government has poured money into investments designed to transform China into a soccer superpower on par with Brazil. Yet the National Basketball Association remains by far China’s most popular sports league. According to one recent study that measured online engagement, the NBA is six times more popular in China than the three largest European soccer leagues combined. During the 2017 NBA Finals, more than 190 million Chinese streamed the games on their mobile devices. By contrast, in the U.S., each Finals game averaged 20.4 million viewers, and an additional 430,000 live-streamers.”

So it’s no surprise that the Golden State Warriors and the NBA try to appeal to these fans, and no surprise again that the Warriors reveal a new Chinese heritage uniform:

The 2017 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors will wear Chinese Heritage alternate uniforms for select games during the 2017-18 season as a nod to the strong Chinese culture in the Bay Area, the team announced today. The Warriors will first wear the Chinese Heritage alternate uniforms at home on Thursday, January 25th vs. Minnesota when the team plays the Timberwolves at home. Chinese Heritage merchandise, including hats, shirts and sweatshirts, is available now at warriors.com and will be available at the Warriors Team Store tonight, while Chinese Heritage alternate jerseys for every player on the roster is available for presale at warriors.com.

The Bay Area has the top three out of five Asian populations in the U.S. (Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose) and the new Chinese Heritage alternate uniform pays tribute to that strong Chinese culture and the prosperity that the region and the Warriors have enjoyed. The Chinese characters for prosperity are proudly placed on the waistline of the shorts as the chest logo combines the Golden Gate Bridge and classic symbolism. The suspension bridge detail, that has appeared on previous Warriors uniform Editions, remains on the shorts. “The Bay,” which appears on the front of the jersey, recognizes the importance of the entire Bay Area to the Warriors organization. In coming seasons, the Warriors will continue to use “The Bay” uniform highlighting a variety of heritages special and unique to the Bay Area.

The Warriors are wearing the Chinese Heritage uniform for the following games:

  • Thursday, January 25th vs. Minnesota
  • Saturday, February 24th vs. Oklahoma City
  • Wednesday, February 28th at Washington
  • Thursday, March 8th vs. San Antonio
  • Saturday, March 17th at Phoenix
  • Monday, March 19th at San Antonio
  • Thursday, March 29th vs. Milwaukee
  • Saturday, March 31st at Sacramento
  • Tuesday, April 3rd at Oklahoma City

I’m wouldn’t be surprised if these are sold in China as well.

About John

I'm a Taiwanese-American and was born & raised in Western Massachusetts, went to college in upstate New York, worked in Connecticut, went to grad school in North Carolina and then moved out to the Bay Area in 1999 and have been living here ever since - love the weather and almost everything about the area (except the high cost of housing...)
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