The Boston Celtics released the next version of their City Edition jerseys as part of an annual collaboration between the NBA and Nike. This year, Boston is honoring the deep roots basketball has in the Hub and across New England. Likewise, the jerseys are meant to serve as an homage to the region’s history of artisanship and industry. The Celtics expressed in a press release that the team is “committed to the craft” as such.
The club identified a few key ways the 2023-24 City Edition Celtics have ties to history. From the front logo to some of the finer details, there are nods to basketball’s origins in Springfield, MA, to Boston’s heritage as a center of craftsmanship, and more. The team announced a joint celebration with Jack’s Abby Craft Lager, a regional brewery with whom the Celtics have an existing partnership. Likewise, the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation will raffle off a few signed versions of the jersey.
Let’s take a deeper dive at some of the specific details and historical Easter eggs hidden within the 2023-24 Boston Celtics City Edition jerseys.
The beveled font on the front of the jersey is an homage to the YMCA located in Springfield, MA. This is where Dr. James Naismith served as a physical educator and invented the sport of basketball in 1891. The first public match was played a year later at the same YMCA.
The panels that run along the sides of the jerseys and shorts are meant to represent woven strips of wood. According to National Geographic, the first hoops used by Naismith were actual peach baskets, and the bar tacks that would have been used to keep these baskets together show up in this design.
This is element is meant to symbolize the region’s ties to handmade craftsmanship, highlighting a “connection between New England and the game of basketball.”
At the top of the kit’s shorts is a leather basketball. This too harkens back to the first versions of the game, where a leather soccer ball was used. Early basketballs were also made of leather. A shamrock is also featured here to give a bit of Celtic flair.
There’s a maker’s plate alongside the jersey’s anthem down at the bottom. This references the once proud furniture industry in the city of Boston and also features a nod to basketball’s founding.
To continue the theme of artisan craftsmanship, the Celtics officially unveiled their 2023-24 City Edition jerseys at the North Bennet Street School in Boston. This was the first trade school in the country and opened in 1881.
The Celtics will wear their City Edition threads for the first time on November 10 at home against the Brooklyn Nets as part of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament. That will mark the first of several times these jerseys will make an appearance this season.
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