The Phoenix Suns were on a flight back from an East Coast trip during the 2018-19 season when Kelly Oubre Jr. and Deandre Ayton, seatmates on the team plane, began talking about how much they were enjoying the Suns' youthful energy.
Phoenix acquired Oubre in December 2018 from the Washington Wizards, with whom Oubre had been the resident young fashion plate among a somewhat veteran team in win-now mode. He clicked right away with the Suns' younger stars.
"Being traded was such a transitional moment for me," Oubre, 24, told ESPN this week. "I came to a place where I had a crowd of young guys. We meshed and vibed out. This group is so fun compared to other groups I've been with because of the youth and the energy."
Sometime on that flight, Ayton and Oubre came up with a nickname for the team's young core: Valley Boyz. Oubre has since trademarked the phrase and sold merchandise with the name at pop-up shops in the Phoenix area.
"It's a lifestyle for us," he said.
Oubre had no idea, but the Suns' marketing staff was thrilled as the #ValleyBoyz hashtag picked up momentum in 2019.
In spring 2018, months before acquiring Oubre, the team started the design process on a jersey it hoped would have either "Valley" or "The Valley" across the chest -- its first time using any direct verbal reference to the Valley of the Sun in its jersey line, said Brooke Campbell, the Suns' vice president of marketing and brand strategy.
The Suns also knew they wanted the uniform to be black, which they have not used much in jerseys.
They are unveiling their final 2020-21 city edition jersey here on ESPN.com. It features a pixelated desert sunset that also forms the broad outline of Camelback Mountain, a fixture on the landscape in the greater Phoenix area:
Several players had been clamoring for a black jersey, Oubre said.
"We needed the black jerseys," he said. "And they heard our cries."
The Suns know the jerseys are daring. Some fans might criticize the pixelation as outdated -- reminiscent of 1980s computer and video games.
Oubre loves them, and he does not care much if some fans don't.
"Instead of hating the jerseys, why don't you buy one for the love of the team?" he said.
(Oubre gave this interview before ESPN's Brian Windhorst and Tim Bontemps broke the news about the Suns and the Oklahoma City Thunder discussing a trade that would send Chris Paul to Phoenix. Those talks are fluid, sources said. It is unclear who and what Phoenix might send the Thunder, but as I mentioned on the Oct. 20 Lowe Post podcast with Bill Simmons in discussing potential Paul-to-Phoenix deals, Oubre might be essential to any such trade.)
The Suns received pushback from league officials worried "The Valley" might confuse fans who associate it more with Southern California and the San Fernando Valley, said Campbell and Chris Grasha, the team's director of creative.
"There was a little bit of hesitation," Campbell said.
The initial go at a black jersey featured only "Suns" on the front, with no reference to The Valley and the pixelation pattern down the side:
The team decided to fight for "The Valley." The Suns knew their fans would get it, and felt confident it would translate to audiences outside Phoenix. They even pointed out that one of the most prominent blogs covering the team is called Valley of the Suns, Campbell said.
"The Valley is who we are," Campbell said. "It's a geographic demarcation and unique identity that represents our area. If you're from The Valley, if you're from the Phoenix area, you know The Valley."
Subsequent proposals featured the one-word "Valley" in addition to "The Valley," team officials said. They also explored using the full "Valley of the Sun," but discarded it early as too long. Most preferred "The Valley."
They thought about keeping the front clean beyond the wordmark:
Their first pivots toward the mountain outline centered on a striped motif that was much simpler than the final pixelated version -- with orange lettering and a more cartoonish script:
But they wanted to distinguish their jerseys from the city edition uniforms the Utah Jazz introduced in late 2017, featuring a striped gradient meant to echo the red and orange rock formations in southern Utah:
In the concept stages, the Suns' creative team compiled a mood board featuring images that, for its members, evoked Phoenix and the surrounding area. It included photos of multicolored sunsets over desert landscapes, and a hot-air balloon designed with a pixelated sunset. They decided that style of pixelation would help their jersey stand out. They plopped it onto center stage, and kept it on the sides of the shorts.
It also was a means of keeping purple -- a core Suns color -- on the jerseys. They managed to stick the sunburst ball, perhaps their best-known piece of iconography, on the bottom of both sides of the shorts.
The Suns cycled through several fonts, including one (on the bottom left below) callback to Old West "Wanted" posters and saloon signs -- harkening to Arizona's history:
They ended up with a more modern script rising along a diagonal from the "v" to the "y."
"There was a lean toward a retro vibe," Grasha said, "but by putting it on that skew, it gives you more fast motion and rising action."
The team and Oubre still liked the idea of some nod to the Old West. The Suns asked Oubre to participate in a photo shoot for the jersey reveal, and decided to set it at Rawhide, a Western style town and event center south of Phoenix. Oubre requested a horse. The team also provided a Lamborghini. This is the result:
(For the record, the horse was named "Ghost," according to Oubre. He wanted to ride it but ended up not doing so.)
The Suns will eventually reveal an alternate court they will use for some home games when they wear the jerseys, officials said.
The bet here is the jerseys will be polarizing. Black tends to be something of a default for designers, because it sells well in retail. It is hard for a black jersey to stand apart. The pixelation and "The Valley" wordmark might accomplish that -- for better or worse, depending on your taste.
The Suns don't mind the debate. They are happy with the result.
"We wanted to introduce a little more swagger, and a little more fun into our jerseys," Campbell said.