The NBA’s new Nike jerseys have been ripping all season long, and Kevin Love pretty easily became the latest to have a jersey malfunction on Sunday in the Cavaliers’ 117-115 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.
Love was checking out of the game in the midst of the Cavaliers trying to keep pace with the Hawks and seemed to be frustrated, so, naturally, he ripped his jersey a bit.
We knew Kevin Love was a WWE fan, but he didn't have to Hulk Hogan his Nike jersey pic.twitter.com/edoUoAOtQj
— Dime on UPROXX (@DimeUPROXX) November 5, 2017
Did you see how easily Love did that? NBA players are strong, but there’s no way jerseys should be ripping that easily. We’ve seen players rip their jerseys before Nike was the league’s apparel partner. LeBron James did it. Marc Gasol did it. And now we’ve got Kevin Love.
This might not seem like a Nike thing, but you can’t help but lump this in with the rest of the ripped jerseys we’ve seen all season long. Love even seemed to be a bit surprised by how easily it ripped.
And it gets worse. This wasn’t even the first jersey to rip over the basketball weekend. Nope. Ben Simmons’ entire jersey exploded against the Pacers when Lance Stephenson (of course) got a hold of it.
Damn. pic.twitter.com/49D6jIct8W
— Adam Lefkoe (@AdamLefkoe) November 3, 2017
It didn’t take very much for that to happen, either. These are normal movements basketball players make. The jerseys should be able to withstand a few tough tugs here and there.
A couple of weeks ago, Nike said they were investigating the matter and trying to find a solution for the jersey issue. It’s been an issue for the league since the preseason and there doesn’t seem to be any solution or answer.
That’s not a good look for the Nike product or for the NBA. They’ve got to hold it together.