We ordered and tested the NBA black cotton crew-neck at $5.07. The print reads clean, the 250g cotton has real body, and sizing runs large against the label.
We ordered the NBA black T-shirt in casual streetwear style through our usual shopping agent, logged the fee, and had it in the Austin test room eleven days later. At USD 5.07 (down from USD 5.33) it is the cheapest garment currently on our bench, which is exactly why it earned a tape measure rather than a glance. The listing, SKU 7715849691, describes a pure cotton pullover with a crew neckline, short sleeves and a BULLS-over-23 graphic in red with white outlines.
What we actually received
The parcel arrived in the standard grey agent poly mailer, no box, no tissue. We photographed the bag before cutting it open, as we do with every order. Inside was one folded black tee in a clear sleeve with no hangtag and no care label beyond a printed neck tag. Nothing was damp, nothing smelled of dye.
We tested a size L in the 250g heavyweight pure cotton black colorway. The fabric has a dry, slightly rough hand out of the bag and softens noticeably after the first cold wash. Held against a window, light passes through the body panel but not the shoulders, which lines up with a heavyweight knit rather than the thin jersey the listing's thickness field implies.
Measurements we took
Our reviews editor taped the shirt flat after a cold wash and air dry. Because the listing does not publish a size chart we could verify, we logged raw numbers rather than flagging deviations — our usual 1.5 cm threshold had nothing to compare against.
| Measurement (size L, flat) | Recorded |
|---|---|
| Chest, pit to pit | 56 cm |
| Shoulder, seam to seam | 50 cm |
| Sleeve, shoulder seam to hem | 21 cm |
| Body length, high point to hem | 71 cm |
| Hem opening, flat | 55 cm |
A 56 cm chest on a labeled large is roomy. Worn on a 178 cm tester with a 96 cm chest, the shoulder seam sat about 3 cm past the natural shoulder and the hem landed mid-fly. That is a loose silhouette, and it matches the "loose" cut the listing claims.
Print, stitching and the QC photos
The BULLS lettering and the 23 sit centered and level, about 22 cm wide across the chest. At this price we expected the outline to look thin or bled; it does not. Edges are crisp and there was no ink halo after washing. Mid-weight single-needle stitching at the sleeve hems and a double-stitched bottom hem held straight in the wash. We found one loose thread at the left armpit seam and a faint glue-like sheen on the inner shoulder seam under direct light — both cosmetic, neither worth returning over.
Two cold washes at 30°C, tumble dried low once: no measurable shrinkage, no color bleed onto the white towel we dried it with, and the graphic lost no visible saturation.
The sizing question we cannot answer for you
This is the part of the review where honesty costs us a point. The listing runs S through 5XL, but there is no size chart and no published body measurement for any size. The only buyer signal we could find is category-level, not about this shirt — a discussion of NBA-licensed graphic tees where one buyer notes the fit running large:
"I got the bedazzled one and a medium fits like a large. Really nice shirt though." — buyer discussion of NBA-licensed graphic tees
That is one comment about a different garment, so we treat it as a hint, not a fact. Our own large measured wide. If you are between sizes, size down, or better, ask your agent for flat chest and body-length measurements before the parcel ships.
The two cotton weights, and why you should pick deliberately
Four colorways are listed, and they are not the same garment dressed in different colors. Two are 250g heavyweight pure cotton (black and white, both tagged bu23) and two are 200g (white and black, tagged 23). We tested the 250g black. The 200g versions will feel lighter and drape softer — a different shirt for a different season. Confirm which variant your agent is buying before checkout.
How we score it
We rate on a five-point scale, where 5 is excellent. The NBA black T-shirt lands at 4.2 / 5: a genuinely wearable heavyweight-feel cotton tee with a clean print at a price that is hard to argue with, held back by an unverifiable fit, a missing size chart and two cosmetic finishing flaws. It is not a garment we would build an outfit around, but it is a garment we kept wearing.
Care notes from the bench
- Wash cold, inside out, and keep it out of a hot dryer to protect the print outline.
- The black 250g cotton picked up lint readily, so wash it away from towels.
- Iron the print area only from the reverse, low heat.