Warriors Suddenly Hyping Oakland, After Kicking Oakland To The Curb

Image: @warriors via Twitter

If you watched last night’s Warriors game that was nationally televised on TNT, you may have noticed that the team was wearing “Oakland” jerseys instead of their normal Golden State Warriors jerseys. That’s funny, because the Warriors completely ditched Oakland after the 2018 season, giving a middle finger to the loyal East Bay fans who supported them through 40 years of shitty basketball so the team could instead chase billionaire tech money at their fancy-ass new Chase Arena in San Francisco.

Screenshot: TNT

They even had the nerve to put a giant “Oakland” logo at midcourt. Mind you, the game was played in San Francisco, and they never once put the word “Oakland” on the court when they played in Oakland. That’s like your partner dumping you publicly, and then immediately changing their Facebook status to “In a Relationship” with you.

We get it, every NBA team has a million different uniforms this year. (Think I’m kidding? Look at all these goddamned jerseys the Warriors are wearing this season.) It’s the new league wide trend of “alternate” jerseys and hardwood floor designs, and believe me, they’re much fuckin’ uglier in some other NBA cities. But this has nothing to do with honoring the city of Oakland, and everything to do with selling more merchandise at their stupid branded Kaiser-Permanente “Thrive City” shop and getting that fucking inexcusable Rakuten logo out there.

Doors are now open at Warriors Shop at Thrive City!

Don't want to shop in-store but still want your Oakland Forever jersey today? You can shop and purchase via https://t.co/Yn24TpB9n7 for curbside pickup. pic.twitter.com/taz9JVgzdE

— Warriors Shop (@warriorsshop) December 3, 2020

Warriors’ tech tycoon owner Joe Lacob couldn’t wait to get the Warriors out of Oakland and over to San Francisco, where billionaires and corporate loge-loungers could afford vastly more expensive season ticket packages. But these new fans have never heard the words “Run-TMC,” “Latrell,” or “moped accident” in their entire pampered lifetimes.

At this rate, the Warriors might as well introduce their new “Move to Austin, The Corporate Tax Rate Is Lower” jerseys next year.

As they talked, Canalin revealed something else: he was the lead designer of the Warriors’ last truly authentic tribute to The Town.

Not the new jerseys that many have criticized, but the clothes everybody, including Kevin Durant and Too $hort, embraced.https://t.co/zEsVau53id

— SFGATE (@SFGate) February 1, 2021

SFGate spoke to the artist who was the lead designer of those The Town alternate jerseys that the Warriors wore when they were still in Oakland, Dustin Canalin. “As a homegrown fan who experienced my team being taken away, I feel like the gesture is indifferent,” Canalin told SFGate. “It’s forced. They don’t play in Oakland anymore. They left. They even moved their team headquarters out of Oakland. It feels like a grab for leftover emotional baggage. It’s like a guilt jersey, a jersey for the new fans.”  

I find it hilarious the @warriors spent 30 years doing everything they could to distance themselves from the city of Oakland. Now they want to put it on their jerseys and floor. Lol. Corny and pathetic.

— MehrEnayati (@MehrEnayati) February 3, 2021

Hey, if the Warriors want to do an “alternate” Oakland homage, they could occasionally schedule home games back in Oakland and get some old-school nostalgic feels and really respect their roots. That would be fucking tremendous. But the only thing the Warriors’ front office cares about these days is selling wildly expensive tickets and concessions at their zillion-dollar, predatory-lending sponsored Chase Arena, and this Oakland jersey is a hollow and craven slap to the face of their longtime fans who stuck with them through the many, many lean years.   

Then again, this kind of ‘wrong city jersey’ nonsense is very much in character for the Golden State Warriors. They wore “San Francisco” alternate jerseys back in 2010 when they were still playing in Oakland.