NBA keeps it simple with '15 Christmas unis

After several seasons' worth of Christmas Day uniforms that inspired widespread disapproval from fans, the NBA has a new set of Christmas uniforms in the pipeline for this December, and they're likely to be more popular than their predecessors.

The 2015 Christmas jerseys haven't yet been officially released by the league but were provided to ESPN.com by an industry source. They feature a holiday card theme, with script chest wordmarks inspired by vintage Christmas cards and heavy use of a cream-based tone (officially called "greige") that's meant to evoke parchment. The NBA logo on the jerseys appears in a sealing wax motif, recalling the way holiday cards used to be sealed shut. The jerseys are standard sleeveless tank tops -- a departure from the league's recent emphasis on sleeved jerseys.

The overall effect is tasteful and attractive -- a big improvement over the "Big Color" and "Big Logo" templates used for some of the recent Christmas designs, which many fans ridiculed.

Most of the Christmas uniforms include familiar details from the teams' regular uniforms -- a diagonal stripe for the Trail Blazers, two-tone striping for the Wizards, and so on. But the Hawks' design has several new elements, including a new logo on the waistband and neon green accents, which may hint at a new uniform set being in the works for Atlanta.

Although the Christmas designs were prepared for most of the NBA teams, the NBA hasn't yet revealed its 2015-16 schedule, so it's not yet clear which teams will actually be playing on Dec. 25, or even how many games there will be on that date. (Last year there were five.) Because the Christmas designs are developed well in advance, it's standard procedure for them to be prepared for all teams, even though most teams will not be playing on Christmas.

There are several gems in the collection. In addition to the Bulls one featured above, here are three of our favorites.

To view all of the Christmas uniforms, check outthe Uni Watch blog.