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Did Brooklyn Nets steal design for New Jersey tribute logo?

By Jerry Trotta

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 03: James Harden #13 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles during the second half against the Atlanta Hawks at Barclays Center on November 03, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 03: James Harden #13 of the Brooklyn Nets dribbles during the second half against the Atlanta Hawks at Barclays Center on November 03, 2021 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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In a widely expected move, the NBA decided to bring back the City Edition jerseys, which were a huge hit amongst fans last season.

Much like they did in 2020-21, Brooklyn Nets flexed their muscles and boasted one of the nicest designs of the 30 newly-debuted collections.

The uniform pays homage to the organization’s journey from New York (1969-1976), to New Jersey (1978-2021) and back again (2013-present) The eye-popping blue, red and white color scheme was another nice touch, as it showed love for the Nets’ throwback look from the 1980s and early 2000s.

Unfortunately, however, the Nets might find themselves entangled in a bit of controversy following the uniform’s release, as independent designer Brian Begley took to Instagram over the weekend to share his own design concept of a “BKLYN Remix uniform” and logo from way back in 2020.

Check this out.

Did the Brooklyn Nets steal this designer’s New Jersey tribute logo?

Begley shared the post in December of 2020 and his logo concept looks eerily similar to what the Brooklyn Nets debuted last week.

The post has nearly 900 likes, so Begley isn’t having much trouble getting his message across. For those wondering, most of his posts typically generate between 30-100 likes, with 200 and 300 being outliers.

It’s worth noting, too, that Begley is a fairly established designer. With 12,000 followers on Instagram, this seemingly isn’t a random fan with an agenda against the franchise. Begley sells his own merchandise, folks. He even launched his original BKLYN design in hoodie form on Saturday.

To the naked eye, it genuinely looks as though the Nets mirrored Begley’s design for their New Jersey tribute logo. Unless, of course, this is all just a massive coincidence … but we all know how unlikely that is.

Truth be told, the only difference between the designs is that Brooklyn’s version has a more punctuated outline surrounding “BKLYN” and the basketball. That, and the color scheme. Everything else seems like a carbon copy. It’s like the Vanilla Ice percussion sound on his “Under Pressure” ripoff.

Let it be known that we aren’t accusing the Nets of plagiarizing Begley’s design. We’re just using all the evidence at our disposal. Right now, though, it looks pretty damning and we’ll know soon enough if Begley takes further action.

Until then, all we can do is speculate.