Today's Old School Design takes a look back at a very cool set of NBA collectibles from the early 1980's. These basketball kits were produced by the Orange Products Company who also produced gumball football and baseball helmets at the time. The basketball kits are loaded with great NBA design goodies. Each set contained a set of miniature basketballs and a stand display that was designed to look like the court and a basketball backboard. Each display came with a set of blank basketballs that you would apply logos to from a sheet included in the kit.
The logo sheets included with the set contained many classic NBA logo designs. Many of the logos were older versions so there were a few loose decals with more updated logos included in the set to replace the older versions.
The logo sheet included some classic versions of the logos for the 76ers, Nuggets, Jazz, New York Nets, Cavaliers and the Buffalo Braves. The set included newer logos for the 76ers, New Jersey Nets and the Pistons. There seemed to be no real rhyme or reason as to which logo was included for each team. The set must have been made many years earlier and they just kept adding in new logos as they got them.
The packaging is loaded with classic NBA design goodness. One set featured teams from the Midwest and Pacific Divisions (green) and the other featured the Atlantic and Central Divisions (blue). The image on the green box was significantly older than the image on the blue box. The green set featured an image of the product as it must have looked many years earlier. The product featured in the image is not like the actual product in the box. If you look very closely you can see that the mini basketballs look much different and contain some absolutely classic old school NBA logo designs. The blue box product image looks much closer to what was actually included in the kits, though still not completely accurate.
The imagery on each box is classic. The green box features an image of a Washington Bullets player, minus the number on the jersey for some reason. The blue box features a classic Boston Celtics image, oddly with the number showing. The fonts used in the design are very period appropriate.
These NBA kits are a truly rare look at the NBA and the collectibles of the era. The sets include some great early NBA logo designs and the packaging is classic late 70's/early 80's design style. These long lost Basketball Kits are a great trip down NBA design memory lane.
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