Jean-Michel Basquiat gives himself… to basketball and ends up on the NBA's game jerseys. On the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the birth of the great New York artist, it could only be celebrated by the Nets, the Brooklyn team, that is the place where Basquiat was born and where he died at the age of 28. In the most populated district of New York (where a certain Michael Jordan was also born, considered the greatest basketball player in history) the exponent of American graffiti was born there on December 22, 1960 and it is on that same date that the Nets will take the field for the first game of the new season: the opponents are the Golden State Warriors and it is played in Brooklyn, at the Barclays Center. For the occasion, the company has thought of a proper tribute, for the first time explicitly associating art with basketball: it is true that today's "jerseys" are increasingly creative and stylized, but nobody was ever come to mind to mention an artist and his work. So, in that game, and for the rest of the season, Basquiat's art will appear on shirts, shorts and even the Barclays Center floor.
There are three references on the shirt: on the shorts stands the reproduction of the figure of "The crown", the crown that gave its name to one of his famous works from 1983 and which appears recurrently in other works; on the front of the shirt the writing "Brooklyn Nets" (which becomes "BKLYN NETS") is clearly inspired by Basquiat's graphic style; finally, on the sides of the shirt (and also at the ends of the playing field) there is a multi-colored stripe that recalls the colors most used by the African-American artist. “The 2020-21 City Edition uniform – wrote the franchise on its website – is inspired by the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Our goal is giving a voice to the voiceless, paying homage to the greats and thanking those who have represented Brooklyn and all it has to offer.” For his brilliant career, in a too short life (he died of a heroin overdose), Basquiat has been nicknamed "the James Dean of modern art": he was a close friend of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring, who died just two years later, of AIDS.
Could Basquiat's art also bring luck to the Nets, a team that has never won the NBA title and has always been considered a Cinderella? This is not known, but in the meantime the image operation was successful. The new uniform is considered by public opinion to be among the most beautiful ever and this is bringing "hype" to the franchise, which this year is also particularly competitive: under the guidance of the new coach, rookie Steve Nash (a player, the move is somewhat reminiscent of that of Juve with Pirlo), in fact there are two superstars of the caliber of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.
