Raptors: Intriguing new Earned Edition jerseys officially revealed

The Toronto Raptors made some slight alterations to their uniforms this season, really leaning into their “We The North” slogan by slanting the “Raptors” wordmark in a way that mirrors exactly how their 2019 alternates looked. Because the squad made the postseason in 2019-20, they’ll have an “Earned” uniform edition to add to their collection.

This uniform has usually been a good source of creativity for the Raptors. In fact, that 2019 alternate they took home the title in was an “Earned” jersey. The offering for the 2020-21 season did not disappoint.

While the Raptors didn’t decide to bring back the giant basketball-playing dinosaur on the front of their jerseys, nor their very late 90s wordmark, bur they did try their best to fuse their older and newer looks together.

The “Earned” jerseys made their way onto social media today, and the club’s new look is almost the exact same as their red home jersey, except for the fact dark purple has replaced red as the primary color. The jerseys will be made available for sale on March 18.

Does the new Raptors jersey look nice?

The new jersey brings back the purple that was featured prominently on the first iteration of Toronto’s uniforms way back in the mid 90s. The team name arranged in the trademark upward-facing chevron remains, while the top half is a pitch black that contrasts nicely with the rest of the jersey.

Toronto will likely lean on their alternate jerseys more in the second half of the season, as they still haven’t unveiled their Drake-inspired black and gold alternates. While black and gold is a winning combo, this amalgamation is just as solid, if not more so.

If the Raptors aren’t going to go back to the dinosaur in the near future or, this seems like the best possible compramise. The fans of the new look get to keep the chevron on the front, while fans of the older colors will get to see purple return to the regular rotation even though the Raptors aren’t bringing back the throwback duds.

These are going to be a bit polarizing. If you don’t like the tweaks the Raptors made to their uniform this year, you might not be a huge fan of these. However, fans of this team have a soft spot for their old-school look, and this combination tries their best to marry the two concepts together.

Grade: B+

What grade do you give Toronto’s new look Raptors fans?