Is this the Thunder's New Alternate Uniform?

Nothing official has come from the Thunder yet, but according to three reliable sources, the above will be the Thunder's new alternate uniforms this season. What are the sources? An Adidas catalog, a rogue eBay listing, and the fact that these are hidden in NBA 2K13, all found out by the wonderful research done by the people at the OKC Thunder Fans Forums.

What the team appears to be going for here is a "faux-retro" look. It's been a trend in the NBA lately to look back at and re-imagine old logos from the 70s and 80s. Just look at the recently re-designed Nuggets or Jazz uniforms.

That being said, I absolutely love the new uniforms. Yeah, I know, they've followed a trend in that they went retro. But at the same time, they've taken a bold step against the current direction of NBA uniforms and created something different and unique. All the while, they made sure not to replicate one of their worst design nightmares. You know the one I'm talking about. That silly basketball shield that still graces our court. Ugh.

The uniforms are unique in that "Thunder" is shown in vertical lettering. This is something that, as far as I can tell, hasn't been done in the NBA before (actually, as pointed out by Taylor Made, the Blazers and Royals (Kings) have done it before), though vertical lettering has shown up in ABA warmups (that of the Conquistadors and Pacers, to be exact). They also boldly go with the use of just two colors, as most uniforms were up until the mid to late 60s. Lastly, the colors aren't too bright or dark. In essence, it's not something that could be affixed to any particular time period or style. Rather, it's something totally new and all to it's own. Thankfully, it's nothing that could be remotely compared to the Sonics' old garb.

How does it go against the grain? Well, the vast majority of uniforms that have come out over the last few years have one of two things in common. The first thing is that they incorporate some sort of gray, either as an accentuating color or as a way to tone down the original color. The result is retro uniforms that are easier on the eyes, or new uniforms that don't look very distinct. The other thing that new uniforms tend to do is have red, white, and blue as their basic colors. Yeah, this is basically just applying to the Clippers, 76ers, and Wizards.

All in all, I really have to applaud the Thunder for coming out with such a unique and awesome uniform before the upcoming season. Honestly, it's the first stylistic move that I've really liked about the team in their five year history here. Now I finally have a jersey I can be proud to wear.

Of course, I still think the Thunder need a orange alternate. Like this one. Anybody? Okay, I guess it's just me.

What do you think of the new alternate uniforms? Let us know in the poll and comments!