What to expect when the Nuggets unveil their new Nike jerseys

The Nuggets are planning to reveal their new Nike jerseys on Tuesday at 5 p.m. at the Denver Performing Arts Complex. The event is free and open to the public.

Here’s what we know, what we don’t know and what we think might be true about the two jerseys we’ll see Tuesday evening.

Two out of four

As Nike continues to roll out new jerseys for each team throughout the league, they’re carefully revealing just two of each team’s four uniforms they’ll wear next year. Technically, Nike is calling them the “Association” and “Icon” jerseys, but they’ll mirror the traditional home and away uniforms.

However, Nike is ditching the traditional home and away format where the home team generally wears white and the away team generally wears their colored uniform. Starting next season, the home team will pick what jerseys they’re planning to wear for each individual game ahead of time, allowing the away team to correspondingly pick theirs.

The two other jerseys Nike has planned for each team: One inspired by “The Athletes’ Mindset” and the other by “The Community” will be revealed at a later date. There’s no clear indication right now of what these uniforms might look like.

A new secondary color

Although the Nuggets did not reveal their new threads when they announced their corporate alliance with Western Union last week, the patch alludes to Denver’s growing desire to pivot away from the light blue color that has been associated with the franchise since the 2003-04 season.

The Nuggets are likely set to introduce dark blue as their secondary color on Tuesday and there are mountains of evidence to support that notion.

The dark blue will be predominantly featured on the “away” jerseys. Our friends over at Denver Stiffs mocked up what the away jerseys could resemble. The light blue could be accented somewhere on either the traditional home or away jersey but it looks to be taking a backseat to the dark blue.

No classics

The Nuggets are reportedly not one of the eight teams that Nike selected for a “Classic” throwback uniform for next season. This fifth uniform for the following select teams is in addition to the core four jerseys Nike is rolling out for each of the 30 franchises and mirrors some of the most iconic looks from these teams’ history.

Atlanta Hawks (1972-76)

Charlotte Hornets (1989-96)

Golden State Warriors (1971-75)

Indiana Pacers (A white version of last year’s “Hickory” uniforms)

Los Angeles Lakers (1947-52)

Miami Heat (1988-89)

Milwaukee Bucks (1968-73)

Phoenix Suns (1968-73)

Expect these uniforms to be revealed over the next couple of months as well.

Rainbow Skylines

The fans want them, Nuggets’ players love them and they’d instantly be the cleanest and best-selling jerseys throughout the league, but we probably won’t see Denver’s famed Rainbow Skyline jerseys make a return on Tuesday.

Some will point the fact that Denver has “teased” these skyline jerseys over the past few months, citing Paul Millsap‘s introductory presser where Millsap’s No. 4 jersey on display was of the throwback variety that Denver wore in their season opener last year or the fact Gary Harris and Juan Hernangomez have posted pictures to social media throughout the offseason of a Rainbow Skyline-themed shooting shirt and a jersey from last season. But that’s simply not true.

The Nuggets aren’t getting a Rainbow Skyline-type jersey on Tuesday and haven’t teased one at all this offseason. Denver asked what type of jersey Millsap wanted at his press conference earlier this summer and he requested the throwback and Harris and Hernangomez had that shooting shirt and jersey from last season when Denver wore them. Expect to see a white and likely a dark blue jersey on Tuesday

It’s been fairly clear what Nike, who is mostly responsible for the design of these jerseys, is going for with the uniforms they’ve already released: A clean and basic look that’s fairly conservative and frankly tough to mess up. Nike isn’t looking to make any major statements with these home and away uniforms and maybe they’re simply leaving room to get creative and take some risks with the two other jerseys that they’ll release for every team in the league later this summer.