PDX Carpet Jerseys Praised in NBA Rankings

The Portland Trail Blazers recently-revealed Nike City uniforms for the 2022-23 NBA season feature a teal color scheme that isn’t often associated with the Blazers, but does pay homage to the iconic PDX airport carpet.

While the jersey has been a subject of controversy on Blazers Twitter, several media outlets are praising the edition in their NBA City Edition power rankings.

Victoria Hernandez from USA Today has the Blazers placed second in her rankings, below just the Detroit Pistons.

The Portland Trail Blazers used the opportunity to pay tribute to ... the teal geometric patterned carpet at PDX airport. Yes. It’s so ridiculous it’s amazing.

For The Win’s Bryan Kalbrosky ranks Portland third in his list and lauds the unique design choice.

The Portland Trail Blazers 2022-23 City Edition Uniform design falls respectively in the “Uniquely Portland” category. No other team would be as confident and quirky as to model their uniform design around an airport carpet pattern.

This City Edition uniform proudly pays homage to the Portland International Airport’s carpet which reached local icon status in the ‘90’s. The unique geometric shapes displayed over a bright teal base represented the view of the North and South runways as seen overhead by air traffic controllers. The cult following quickly grew as it became tradition for travelers arriving and departing out of PDX Airport to take photos of their feet safely planted on the colorfully patterned carpet.

Johnathan Soveta and Michael J. Chandler of The Score rank the Blazers at fourth and praise the their love of the sash.

Sadly, not enough teams rock sweet sashes in the NBA. The Trail Blazers, however, are almost synonymous with the diagonal mark, and they translate the successful recipe perfectly to their City Editions.

Another fan of the sash and the story, Jasmyn Wimbish from CBS Sports has the Blazers jersey coming in at fifth on her list.

Everyone knows that PDX stands for Portland, and the fact that the Blazers decided to pay homage to a carpet design inside their airport from the ‘90s is the exact type of niche-ness I expect from this city and organization. The design is cool in itself, but the way they utilized it like the typical sash we’ve seen from them in the past is a nice touch.

Sports Illustrated’s Jarrel Harris put the Blazers sixth on his list and mentions how perfectly it fits with the city of Portland as a whole.

This uniform proudly pays homage to the signature PDX carpet pattern, which reached local icon status in the 1990s and falls into the “uniquely Portland” category.

SI’s take: The City Edition uniforms are all about having fun with themes. Portland gets it.

The Blazers are expected to debut the jerseys in their next game, Tuesday at home against the San Antonio Spurs.