Writing about 20 underrated sports uniforms from college football, NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA. One uniform at a time.
When the Kings opened up professional hockey in Los Angeles they wore some amazing yellow and purple (I’m sorry, officially Forum Blue) uniforms to mimic the Lakers that were worn with a few changes for their first two decades of existence. Since then, the organization has gone through 4 uniform resets including a modern refresh black and purple scheme that lasted from 1988 until 2011.
The purple and gold scheme to match the Lakers at the time was amazing. In 1988, the Kings decided to adopt a black and silver color scheme similar to (then) local franchise the Los Angeles Raiders. This was the famous Wayne Gretzky era for the Kings.
When they went away from this look it was a sad day. In 2008, they resurrected the the vibes of those uniforms with a black 3rd jersey with an awful logo that would eventually become the team’s primary logo in 2011.
Notice the silver texture.
A Gretzky-era throwback was worn in 2020-21 then a new twist on that uniform was created with a silver chrome helmet and white gloves. This past season though, Los Angeles returned to the original 1988 uniforms with very small changes. The collar is black, the sleeve numbers moved out of the stripes and higher up on the arm, and the main logo font is subtly thicker.
With the Raiders long gone (they left Los Angeles 31 years ago!) the Kings need to stick to these colors and own it forever. I’m partial to their black uniforms but the white is more iconic, especially as the textured silver crest on a white background is so unusual and shouldn’t work, but it does.
