Hawks and Thunder Wear Red and Orange Jerseys in Same Game, Chaos Ensues

An issue with the Hawks' jersey selection led to a gaudy combination of uniforms for Friday night's game against the Thunder.

Don't adjust your television, viewers at home—your eyes are not deceiving you.

The NBA doesn't have the appropriately-branded "color rush" jerseys that the NFL does, but that doesn't stop the league from putting out some truly gaudy uniforms. Teams usually spare viewers from unsightly jersey combinations, but it appears there was a glitch in the process for Friday's Hawks-Thunder matchup in Oklahoma City.

But who approved these jersey colors? 🤔

(via @ATLHawks) pic.twitter.com/uJu36Qvj8c

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) February 27, 2021

This orange-on-red monstrosity is the type of thing that keeps most equipment managers up at night, rushing to the industrial sized washing machines to make sure things are transferred to the dryer in time. The wardrobe slip-up—a true instance of visual malpractice—apparently came as a result of the Hawks not having the correct jerseys with them on their current road trip, according to a Thunder spokesperson.

From Thunder: "The Hawks are wearing the incorrect uniform color for the game. The league process of inputting uniform colors should have caught the orange/red combo, but because the Hawks only have red uniforms on the trip the Thunder will switch to white at the half."

— Joe Mussatto (@joe_mussatto) February 27, 2021

Because the Hawks were shorthanded with their uniform options, the Thunder were forced to switch to white jerseys at halftime to put an end to the confusion.

With the seemingly endless amounts of alternate uniforms teams have at their disposals, it's sort of surprising this type of mishap doesn't happen more often. Here's betting teams double-check their jersey options ahead of time before departing on long road trips.

Fashion icon Coco Chanel once said, "In order to be irreplaceable one must always be different." This uniform combination was certainly different, but let's all pray that it forever is replace by something more visually palatable.