Ray Allen reminds Celtics fans of what Nike has taken from them

Many great franchises across all sports have iconic uniforms. The Boston Celtics are, of course, one of them. The classic green and white jerseys have been mostly unchanged throughout the franchise’s history, aside from the text on the front of the green away uniforms going from “Boston” to “Celtics” in 1968, and then back to “Boston” again in the summer of 2014.

Something about the design staple makes the unis special. Some may even say they have “aura.”

Though the home and aways (icon and association now, thanks to the innovators over at Nike!) are pretty much perfect, that doesn’t mean the franchise hasn’t seen its fair share of alternates over the years. Some have been good. Some have been bad. But, even with the yearly release of a new “City” edition uniform, the Celtics haven’t come close to their magnum opus, the St. Patrick’s Day alternates, last worn in 2017, right before Nike took over as the NBA's equipment provider.

Mid-August is a random time to step back up onto this soap box, but after seeing former Celtic champion, Ray Allen’s, social media post with his jersey collection, it felt like time to go to war for these again.

Seeing the St. Pat’s uni hanging with the rest of Allen’s NBA laundry served as a reminder of its greatness. The classic Celtics design with gold numbers, letters, and trim simply can’t be beat.

Another disappointment is right around the corner

We’re probably about a month away from the inevitable disappointment that is Nike’s newest City edition moneygrab leaking onto Twitter/X. Last season, the “Action Green” (by far the worst City edition to date) surfacing in mid-September hit like a ton of bricks.

Make no mistake, I will be back when that day comes to once again vouch for better alternates.

The letdown is always multiplied by the fact that there’s a great jersey just sitting there, ready to be rebooted, yet it never happens. There really wasn’t a better opportunity for a re-release than the 2024-25 campaign, considering Boston had just won its 18th NBA title. The gold lettering could’ve been tied into the feat so easily, but Nike wanted the ugly neon green instead.

It’s not even like Nike has completely avoided giving teams the opportunity to wear throwback unis. We’ve seen the Toronto Raptors, Memphis Grizzlies, and Miami Heat all get awesome retro edition releases. There’s no reason why the same can’t be done in Boston with these.

They were a staple of the Allen, Paul Pierce, and Kevin Garnett era teams, and even survived up until Isaiah Thomas’s final season with the Cs.

Please, take the St. Patrick’s Day jerseys off the rack. I beg of you, Nike.