All Hornets

Ranking every set of the Charlotte Hornets' City Edition jerseys

With a new and interesting entry, let's look back at the best and worst City Edition Hornets uniforms.
Zach Roberts|
Charlotte Hornets

In this story:

Charlotte Hornets

When the Charlotte Hornets play the Oklahoma City Thunder, they will do so with a jersey never worn before. The 2025-26 City Edition jerseys are here, and that makes nine different City Editions in Hornets history. Some have been good, others have not.

9. 2022-2023

The 2022-2023 Hornets City Edition jerseys are a pretty mixed bag. On the one hand, I like the black jerseys, and I like what they tried to do with the mint. Things just didn't come together very well. It's kind of a cacophony of colors, and none of them really stand out. Additionally, "CLT" is one of the worst ways to refer to the Hornets on the jersey.

8. 2025-26

The more I look at these jerseys, the better they get, but the bar is on the floor. I really respect doing something different than variations of the mint color or something with black, but this is a big swing in the wrong direction. There are a lot of interesting colors the Hornets could've picked that are related to hornets, honey, and other things that make sense, and this is one of the ugliest.

7. 2021-2022

I really appreciate what the Hornets attempted to do here. I like the honeycomb design, and I love using both purple and teal. Unfortunately, they did it in the worst possible way. The NBA had a trend of gradient jerseys fading into and out of different colors, and none of them really worked. These certainly aren't the worst offenders, but they're not great.

6. 2020-2021

The 2020-2021 jerseys use the Buzz City logo with the mint theme, and it works. Unfortunately, these are not doing much else, and they don't do a whole lot to stand out. This is the first mint jersey we got, and so credit is due, but first doesn't mean best.

5. 2024-2025

LaMelo Bal
Nov 16, 2024; Charlotte, North Carolina, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Portis (9) tries to maintain control pressured by Charlotte Hornets guard LaMelo Ball (1) during the second quarter at Spectrum Center. Mandatory Credit: Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images | Jim Dedmon-Imagn Images

At first glance, you'd think last year's City Edition jerseys were the same as the 2020-2021 version. To the naked eye, they are. They're the same color, just featuring a different title, "Charlotte" instead of "Buzz City," and changing the C on the shorts for "704." As a 704 local, I like that enough to give them the nod even though I prefer Buzz City.

4. 2018-2019

The 2018-2019 Buzz City black jerseys are pretty good. They feature more teal than the previous version, which helps differentiate them. The black and grey is a nice combo, but all the colors being fairly dark makes these a tad dull. The teal is too dim to really pop, but it could be a whole lot worse.

3. 2017-2018

I like these slightly more than the previous entry, which was the second iteration of this style. The stitched teal goes so well down the sides of the jersey and purple down the pants, and the white lettering stands out on the black jersey. Does it help that I had a Kemba Walker shirt in this style growing up? Yes, but they're also just good uniforms.

2. 2019-2020

These jerseys have very little to do with the Hornets' coloring as they're grey, but it just works so well. For one thing, they really stand apart from the closet of jerseys Charlotte has had over the years, and they're pretty simple. The Hornets didn't get cute here, just putting purple lettering over a grey jersey, but it works perfectly.

1. 2023-24

The best City Edition jerseys the Charlotte Hornets have ever had are the 2023-24 ones. These perfectly meshed the mint theme with the Hornets' branding. It's a teal uniform, so you'll always know it's a Hornets one, but it has the mint stripes on the sides and gold accents. It's a nice combination, and I, again, like the Buzz City name on the front.

- TRENDING STORIES FROM HORNETS ON SI -

Young Hornets fan goes crazy after nice gesture from Miles Bridges

What LaMelo Ball's & Mason Plumlee's assignment to Greensboro means for the Hornets

4 major observations about the Charlotte Hornets after 10 games

Kon Knueppel makes history against Lakers, might be Hornets' new cornerstone

Published
Zach Roberts
ZACH ROBERTS

Zachary Roberts is a journalist with a wide variety of experience covering basketball, golf, entertainment, video games, music, football, baseball, and hockey. He currently covers Charlotte sports teams and has been featured on Sportskeeda, Yardbarker, MSN, and On SI

Home/News