The Los Angeles Lakers will debut their 2021-22 City Edition uniforms on Friday night at Staples Center.

Fittingly, the Lakers are breaking out their latest City Editions— which pay homage to multiple eras of Lakers lore — against the franchise that currently plays where the Lakers were founded: the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Unfortunately, we'll have to wait to see LeBron James don these threads, as the superstar remains out with an abdominal strain. (Here's the Lakers' jersey schedule, if you're curious.) Regardless, the Lakers' latest iteration of the City Edition concept already seems like one of their most popular set of threads, ever.

Ahead of their debut tonight, let's run through and rank past City Edition unis since they debuted in 2017-18 as a collaboration with Nike — from worst to best.

5) 2018-19

Magic Johnson, then the Lakers basketball president of basketball operations, was chosen to design these Citys, and I can't describe his performance (at either job) as a slam dunk.

Johnson chose purple to reference his “Showtime” squads of the 1980s, that was fine. Unfortunately, he added black pinstripes, and the full team name “Los Angeles Lakers” across the front. The pinstripes are comprised of the message “3x5xSHOWTIME”, connoting Johnson's MVPs and titles, but that seems like an excessive detail for the sake of excessive detail. An “M” was featured on the waistband. Too much going on here, imo. Definitely too much black and not enough gold.

4) 2017-18

The “Lore Series” was the first set of Lakers City Edition jerseys, designed by Kobe Bryant. They're solid — it was the first black-based Lakers jersey, and it came with a subtle snakeskin design which certainly evoked the Black Mamba.

There's a Kobe Bryant signature, a “LA/24” on the belt buckle, and 16 stars down the sides to note the organization's then-number of titles.

3) 2019-20

The 2019-20 edition was designed by (who else?) Shaquille O'Neal.

The Big Deisel did a good job here. Personally, I prefer Lakers' golds over purples, so I was happy to see Shaq go all-in on the gold.

There were some cool details here — a vortex design down the side panels, to connote the three titles, Triangle Offense, and Shaq's famous “Black Tornado” spin move. The words “Dr. Buss” were etched onto the rear portion of the waistband, in the style of the Hollywood sign. Stars featuring the Lakers retired numbers ran down the sides.

More than anything, the silhouetted white font looked especially vibrant against the bright gold. These looked good in person, too.

2) 2020-21

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A la the 2021-22 kits, the Lakers' City Edition threads from last season rely on the throwback blue to evoke Lakers history. Dating back to Kobe and Shaq rocking the “MPLS.” unis, the powder blue just looks cool whenever the Lakers incorporate it.

Going with a primarily white and minimalist design worked for me, and the usage of the modern “Lakers” front provides a nifty blend of old school and new.

1) 2021-22 

OK, yeah these get No. 1 — even before seeing them on the floor.

“From head to toe, the primary color is the iconic Laker purple that emerged in the late 1960s,” the Lakers said in a statement. “The stars surrounding the uniform number evoke the groundbreaking Minneapolis Lakers of the early 1960s. The belt buckle includes the famous ‘L’ logo from the three-peat era of the 2000s and the shorts incorporate the baby blue from its original championship teams in Minneapolis — the squads that laid the foundation for a franchise unlike any other.”

The concept is beautiful. The sprinkling of powder blue from the Minneapolis days works perfectly, especially in tandem with the bold purple. I can't wait to see the blue belt buckle (with the secondary “L” logo) in action. Everything plays here.

BTW: The 1961-62 uniform remains the greatest non-purple-and-gold Lakers uniform of all time. We'll see if the 2021-22 City Edition can give it a run for its money.