The National Basketball Association’s newest alternate uniform designs – unveiled this month in the lead-up to the 2017-18 season – originated in Los Angeles.

That’s according to Chris Wallace, the Clippers’ chief operations officer, who said the team spearheaded the idea for the customized “statement” jersey each NBA team will wear as one of its alternate kits during the season. Wallace said when the team met with Nike Inc., which is taking over this year from Adidas as the official jersey supplier for the league, they pitched the company’s design group on an embroidered slogan to pay homage to their fans.

That pitch was ultimately adopted and was made into a league-wide product for the upcoming season. The Clippers’ statement jersey has a series of international maritime signal flags on it – a nod to their nautical namesake – that spell out “Clipper Nation.”

“The modern look and feel make this the best possible jersey for our players and fans, and we hope that the maritime theme touches home with Clipper Nation,” said Matt Paye, the Clippers’ vice president of marketing.

NBA teams are to begin selling the new uniforms Nov. 20.

Sports business reporter Josh Niv can be reached at [email protected].