The Golden State Warriors won the Western Conference Finals on Thursday, beating the Dallas Mavericks in a 4-1 series, and with the victory, they were handed some interesting celebratory hats.
If I were designing merch for the NBA Finals, I’ll admit, it probably would not look anything like what Golden State wore on Thursday night. But not every king gets to pick his crown, which is a metaphor that I made up for this occasion just because it sounds good.
Take a look at Golden State’s Juan Toscano-Anderson, who is originally from Oakland and will soon make his first trip to the NBA Finals as a player:
Next stop: 2022 NBA Finals pic.twitter.com/yeBMDRlEOs
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) May 27, 2022
From what you can see in the video above, the hat has a throwback vibe.
As noted by Sports Illustrated writer Chris Herring, the designers for this one used a relatively similar font to what we saw from the Bulls in the 1990s.
After the game, an emotional Klay Thompson shared his thoughts about a return to the NBA Finals after two gruesome injuries:
“I dreamt about this like every day… Just to be here again wearing this shirt, wearing this hat, it’s inspiring for myself to keep going.”
The sentiment is awesome, but it made a lot of people wonder: Was he dreaming about wearing this hat in particular? Because if so, well, that’s perhaps the only explanation that makes sense.
All things considered, I’m not sure how I feel about these hats. But I’m leaning towards putting them in the “it’s so bad it’s good” category of fun.
Here were some reactions to the merch, with comparisons to a gas station find and more: