Ad Disclosure
Hopefully the Reporting is Wrong, and the Sixers Do Not Bring Back the Ben Simmons Cream Jerseys
By Matt Schultz
Published:
There’s a report that the Sixers are bringing back their cream jerseys as this year’s City Edition uniform:
Philadelphia 76ers
— NBA Uniform Tracker™ (@nbaunitracker) August 4, 2026
Can confirm the "Association/Icon/City Editions".@sixers pic.twitter.com/6RvWt0P68u
The Sixers first introduced the creams in 2017-2018 during the inaugural City Edition season. They’re not even supposed to be cream, really; according to the team’s press release all those years ago, the color is actually “parchment paper,” and is supposed to be a nod to Philadelphia’s historic past:
The Philadelphia 76ers today unveiled its fourth and final uniform for the 2017-18 season, the “City Edition” uniform, which celebrates the revolutionary spirit of the city of Philadelphia. The uniform’s signature-style lettering and parchment-paper color are inspired by the Declaration of Independence, signed in Philadelphia in 1776.
The press release is a pretty interesting time capsule. Worth the read. But the most important thing in there is in the first sentence:
PHILADELPHIA 76ERS STAR BEN SIMMONS UNVEILS NEW ‘CITY EDITION’ UNIFORM INSPIRED BY DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE…
That’s the problem. That’s why I truly do not like these cream jerseys. They’re the Ben Simmons jerseys. There’s no way around it. He introduced these creams to us. Ben did a whole Instagram rollout where he posed in the jerseys (these photos do not exist online anywhere anymore, I looked everywhere and can’t find them, but I forget nothing…). And I don’t want to deal with all that baggage. The false hope and squandered potential that was the 2017-2018 season. It’s annoying. But that’s what I see here:
Looking at these creams, I see Ben Simmons demanding to play point guard. Refusing to shoot threes. Telling us he doesn’t need to shoot threes. Brett Brown telling us he doesn’t need to shoot threes. I hear heated discourse over whether Ben and Joel can play together. I hear popular Sixers podcast hosts telling me it will work. That only a dumbass would think it won’t work. That this young core is what the Process was all for. That this will be a championship team. I see Ben catching fire the last stretch of the season when Joel was out, powering the Sixers to 16 straight wins while averaging 14 points, 11 rebounds, and 9.8 assists:
I see 52 wins. I see the 3-seed. I hear chatter about Ben needing the roster built around him. Of surrounding him with shooters. Of letting him be Giannis-like. I remember the hope. The youth. The upside…
And I remember how bad it all fell apart… I’m not going to get into all that. I don’t have time. We all remember all the stuff.
The point is, the cream jerseys have too much Ben stink on them. I don’t care if it’s LeBron and Jaylen Brown wearing them this time around. They still have a funk of failure and disaster and disappointment. The only thing that would possibly make the cream comeback work is if Ben came back with them. Maybe there could be a redemption angle there. And a Ben/Sixers reunion has been heavily rumored this week, which, I must admit, I’d be very interested in from an entertainment perspective:
Maybe this could still happen… Who knows… Ben posted this on his Instagram story on Wednesday:
Those are LeBron sneakers… Connect the dots… The King and the Prince… finally joining forces…
Anyway, these Sixers cream jerseys are ass. Can’t believe they’re not bringing back last year’s black ones, reportedly. Also can’t believe they haven’t brought back the early 2000s shiny blues yet. We need the shiny blues:
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com