The Philadelphia 76ers’ 2025-26 City Edition shorts recently leaked on social media, lending credence to the rumor that every City Edition uniform for next season will be a recolour of a previous year’s design.
The navy blue shorts are an exact match to the parchment-colored City Edition uniforms the 76ers wore during the 2019-20 season, which were inspired by the Declaration of Independence and the Liberty Bell.
That includes the bronze bell on the waistband, the crack in the historical landmark down the right side of the uniform, the “76” logo on the left leg and a red, white and blue striping pattern along the bottom of the shorts.
Interestingly, the full uniform – which is complete with a cursive “Philadelphia” wordmark across the chest and red, white and blue stripes around collar and arm holes – was initially spotted on a mannequin at the team’s practice facility in 2019.
It’s easy to wonder in hindsight if the 76ers planned for this to be their 2019-20 Earned Edition uniform, a short-lived program that gave an additional uniform – a recolour of their City or Statement sets – to teams that made the playoffs the year prior.
But after its inaugural run in 2018-19, the NBA only decided to outfitted teams in Earned Edition warmup gear in 2019-20, with Philadelphia’s design matching its City Edition uniforms and the leaked navy blue design.
The Earned Edition uniforms returned for just one more season in 2020-21 before the program was retired, but several unreleased jerseys have surfaced in the years since, including San Antonio Spurs’ planned 2021-22 design.
Had the program continued and had the Spurs made the playoffs the season prior, they would have unveiled a Fiesta-themed version of their 2017-22 Statement Edition uniforms, which featured their secondary spur logo and an off-center on the front.
Could that design – or any other Earned Edition uniforms that never saw the light of day – be revived alongside the navy blue version of the 76ers’ 2019-20 City Edition uniforms? Stay tuned…
Photos courtesy of @__2hands_shop__ on Instagram.
