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Monday Mailbag: Best Selling Jersey Next Season?

By Josh Wilson

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The art of buying a basketball jersey is one of my favorites. As a kid, I loved to spend any money I had buying NBA jerseys of all of my favorite players. As I grow up, I still treasure any time that I can purchase a jersey.

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A lot of thought goes into the process of buying a jersey, which is why I consider it to be an art, of sorts. Components of the jersey come to your mind: How long will this player likely be with the team? You don’t want to buy a jersey you can’t wear for several years. Is it possible he busts this season? Should I wait and see if he can keep up this streak of high scoring?

Perhaps you might just get a custom ordered one with your own name on the back. After all, you can guarantee you’ll always be able to wear that one as long as you’re a true fan.

ALSO ON SIXER SENSE: Players Who Will Help The Sixers Win Next Season

It’s no surprise that a lot of thought goes into buying NBA jerseys. They certainly aren’t cheap, after all. Typically, a jersey will put you out of 100 dollars, but right now the Philadelphia 76ers are offering a pretty economically-well priced Jahlil Okafor draft night jersey for just under 70 dollars. Still, 70 dollars for a shirt is not cheap.

And if you want a classic, perhaps a throwback Allen Iverson Mitchell & Ness jersey to sport around Philadelphia, good luck without diving into your savings account. That’s going to put you out a whopping 260 dollars.

There’s a lot of money involved, so it’s no surprise that the jerseys take a while to decide on. And after you find the perfect player’s jersey that you want, you aren’t done yet. You have to decided which jersey you want. Do you go with the classic home white, alternate red, or blue away? The combinations aren’t endless, but they sure can seem to be.

Jersey sales are a hot topic around the league. Every year, statistics are released on who had the best selling NBA jerseys. According to last season’s report, no 76ers player was found on the top 10, and the 76ers as a team were not included in the most selling merchandise.

This year, though, could be the year they are able to does that. The Sixers released new uniforms for the first time since 2009 for this season, which has fans excited. Lots of us enjoy the minimalistic look, and really love the “Phila,” that somewhat resembles the abbreviated “ATL,” the Atlanta Hawks had last year.

There’s plenty of candidates for who will be selling the most merchandise this year.

Nik Stauskas

Stasuskas is coming from the Sacramento Kings, and it’s his first year as a 76er. These types of players typically sell quite a few jerseys, simply because no fans whatsoever had his jersey before.

It helps that Stauskas has a pretty cool name. I think that plastered across the back of the red, white, and blue jerseys will be a big seller. I think he’ll be one of the top jersey sellers for the Sixers, but not the top one overall.

Jahlil Okafor

Here’s another new player to the team, and a rookie too, so a double whammy. Okafor is expected to be with the team for a while, so people won’t be afraid to purchase his jersey.

I think if he starts putting up good numbers right away he’ll definitely have a shot at selling the most Sixers jerseys this year. With everyone pumped to have Okafor in the city, and him making some appearances like throwing out a first pitch at a Philadelphia Phillies game, the city is excited to see him. Because of this, expect plenty of people to be making purchases on the jersey of the player who could be the cornerstone of the franchise’s next chapter.

If anyone is going to make a run from the Sixers at the top 10 players in the NBA as far as jersey sales, it’s going to be Okafor.

Nerlens Noel

Going into his second year, some people probably held out for the whole first year from buying a Noel jersey. Skepticism was high regarding Noel, but he did a pretty good job throughout his first year. I think he started to win some fans over towards the end of the year, and hopefully he will have some of them buying jerseys on opening night.

Tony Wroten

I don’t believe Wroten has much of a shot at being number one in jersey sales for the Sixers this year, but if he wins the starting point guard position, we could see some young kids begging their parents to purchase them a Wroten jersey.

His high level of play is exciting to watch, and as a kid he’s the type of player I would want to wear on my back.

Your Monday Mailbag Thoughts

Overwhelmingly, and to little surprise, you all spoke out on Twitter and told us Jahlil Okafor would be the leading force of Sixers jerseys sold.

One of our Sixer Sense writers, George Kondoleon seems to think Pierre Jackson will win the battle. We think he might be delusional, and until further notice, he’s not allowed to submit articles (just kidding, George).

Follow us on Twitter @SixerSense for next week’s Monday Mailbag to see your Tweets featured here! Go Sixers!

Next: Jahlil Okafor Could Be The Catalyst