Will the 76ers be back in black with Iverson-era uniforms?

NBA Twitter exploded late Sunday night when the possibility of an iconic NBA jersey returning surfaced.

The 76ers presented an incredible museum to Tyrese Maxey after he signed a five-year maximum contract extension. As part of the presentation, Maxey received a black Allen Iverson-era Sixers jersey with his name and number on it. More importantly, behind him was a SLAM magazine cover that featured him on it in said jersey.

The writing on the cover said “The fans asked, & Philly answered. 76ers Classic Edition.”

First and foremost, the jersey Maxey is gifted in the video is not the exact thing the Sixers will wear on the court for many reasons. First off, there is no Nike branding on the front and the nameplate and back number are far too large. The current Nike template means they will have to scale that down, but almost everything else will be identical. One other change will be that the material of the jersey itself won’t be that shiny polyester either.

Basketball fans have been clamoring for the return of these uniforms for over a decade. This design is arguably seen as the most iconic of the early 2000s. Now is the right time for this move for many logical reasons.

Longtime 76ers President Chris Heck was the man who had the final say on the franchise’s uniforms when he was in charge. And Heck was extremely vocal about his disdain for these black uniforms.

Heck told Uni Watch in 2020 of the Iverson-era black 76ers design:

“And so the two of them grew up in the era of Allen Iverson and the black uniforms. And I hated that uniform. Absolutely despised it. And the reason is that it wasn’t traditional, it was that ridiculous silk, the ridiculous larger collar…Yeah, the shine to it or whatever. And then the blasphemy of having gold and silver in the 76ers’ logo, on top of it being a black uniform. I know I’m going on and on here… So that was the gist of it — they wanted the Iverson throwback and I said, “No, we’re not doing it. I think they sold out with that uniform, I think they were wrong to the brand, and come hell or high water, we’re not going back to that uniform.”

Heck departed the franchise in June 2022, which opened the door to the possibility of this return. However, it wouldn’t have been right away. NBA jerseys are often mapped out about two years in advance, and when I spoke with a league source about the possibility of this returning back in 2022 the earliest season I was told it could happen, was 2024-25.

I wouldn’t be shocked whatsoever to see these return this fall, but given how NBA uniform releases have been, a 2025-26 drop wouldn’t be too shocking either. These throwbacks would be a certain cash cow, so it makes too much sense from a financial standpoint to bring them back. Just look at the NFL team in Philadelphia and their ever-popular kelly green throwbacks which returned this past season.

There’s another notable reason the 76ers could choose to bring back these classic unis in 2025-26 instead of 2024-25.

— Written by Jack Connell of The Ross Tucker Podcast

Check out the Ross Tucker YouTube page for more and subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also follow the show on X at @rosstuckerpod and Ross at @rosstuckernfl.

The Crown Is Yours: Sign up for DraftKings and experience the ultimate host for games and betting experiences!