Extremely long-time lurker and one-time poster here. I'm beginning a career in advertising and design soon (that hopefully may lean into sports design) and I'm trying to knock out some personal projects I've always wanted to complete.
I had a hard time deciding which project to choose because I wanted to do something that has a remote possibility of happening. One idea that I hadn't seen explored too much here was an NBA expansion led by Nike. I decided that adding two teams to the NBA was perhaps the likeliest of any sports expansion scenario, and choosing the first team to (re)conceptualize was no difficult task.
Seattle makes its triumphant return to the Association with a modernized identity that adheres to Nike's design habits. While the branding itself has not aged poorly (and how can it with such a color scheme), the Sonics' "toilet seat" uniforms never sat well with me. However, I'm never one to completely abandon a history, so the "toilet seat" design becomes a sharp and sleek feature that arguably symbolizes speed more than the old curvature. Finally I included two alternate logos. I am leaning toward the second (right-most), but I understand that near-requirement having a roundel-based logo is now.
I'll probably keep adding to this concept with other multimedia such as advertisements or brand presentations to develop skills other than static graphic design. Let me know what you guys think and if there are any improvements you feel could be made. I'll get to the next team in the near future and then redesigns of outdated current teams, but feel free to shout out what cities you feel to have the greatest likelihood of owning an expansion team.
