Heat History With Vice

The Miami Heat are off to a great start this season, currently sitting with a 7-4 record, third in the Eastern Conference standings, undefeated at home, and arguably the most well-balanced team in the league. They rank among the best in multiple offensive categories, while sticking to their defensive identity.

The Heat are coming off an ecstatic victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers Monday night, with a final score of 140-138 in overtime. Seven players scored in double figures, but it was Andrew Wiggins who was called to be the hero, finishing with the buzzer-beating game-winning dunk with four-tenths of a second left on the clock.

Also, Norman Powell finished with his best game of the season: 33 points, along with four three-pointers made, two rebounds, two assists, a steal, and a block in 39 minutes.

It was a night when the veterans shone.

As the Heat prepare to take on the Cavaliers again tonight at home, without Darius Garland, Evan Mobley, and Donovan Mitchell, it will be a special night for a different reason.

Last season, the organization brought back its vice city edition jerseys, the original white version.

They originally retired the jerseys after the 2020-21 season.

However, tonight the Heat will wear the black vice uniforms for the first time since the 2019 season. Its iconic moment was on Feb 27th, 2019, when franchise legend Dwyane Wade banked an unbalanced buzzer-beating game-winning three-pointer against the Golden State Warriors after getting blocked twice. A memory that will last forever among Heat fans.

The vice uniforms quickly became popular, not only in Miami but around the world. The Heat sold 245,000 total jerseys from its debut in 2018 up until it was retired in 2021.

What's the history behind the design?

It starts with the league partnering with Nike as their jersey supplier after 11 years with Adidas. The famous footwear company came up with a unique alternative uniform, which is known today as "city editions."

After a lot of hard work from Brett Maurer, the Heat's former graphics designer, along with his team, inspiration struck from a photograph of the original Miami Arena, which first opened in 1988 and was demolished in 2008.

That became the turning point of the process. They carried the Miami Arena homage and didn't look back.

The vice jerseys had four different versions for each season. 

On Jan. 28th, 2018, the Heat debuted the white vice jerseys, featuring pink lettering and light blue numbers, against the Sacramento Kings.

Then on Nov 9th, 2018, the vice jerseys were debuted with a primarily black look, light blue lettering, and pink numbers—a polar opposite to the white versions. In the same season, the Heat unveiled a "Sunset" version. The jersey was primarily pink with white lettering and numbers, plus blue lining surrounding it.

Fast forward to Nov. 29th, 2019, the Heat debuted another version of the vice series, this time the blue "Vicewave." A primarily blue jersey with white lettering and pink numbers.

Finally, on Jan. 4th, 2021, the vice chapter was beginning to end with the "Vice Versa" edition. The jersey was split between blue and pink with black lettering and numbers.

As the Heat return with the black vice uniforms tonight, they will be seen seven more times this season. Surely, fans will be excited to see it return on the court.

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- "Former Heat Guard Near League Return"

- "Heat Considering Massive Upgrades"