The official New York Knicks colors are Knicks blue, Knicks orange and silver, with black used as an accent. The primary color is Knicks blue (#006BB6), paired with Knicks orange (#F58426) and silver (#BEC0C2). These three run across the logo, the uniforms and every piece of merchandise the team sells.
Knicks Color Codes: HEX, RGB, CMYK, Pantone
| Color | Swatch | HEX | RGB | CMYK | Pantone |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Knicks Blue | #006BB6 | 0, 107, 182 | 100, 56, 0, 0 | PMS 293 C | |
| Knicks Orange | #F58426 | 245, 132, 38 | 0, 59, 96, 0 | PMS 165 C | |
| Silver | #BEC0C2 | 190, 192, 194 | 0, 0, 0, 29 | PMS Cool Gray 5 C | |
| Black | #000000 | 0, 0, 0 | 0, 0, 0, 100 | PMS Black 6 C |
A note on the Pantone values. The Knicks have never posted a public brand book the way a few franchises now do. The PMS codes above are the ones used consistently across NBA style-guide reproductions and licensed apparel spec sheets. Treat them as reliable, not gospel. And be aware that some vendor sheets float a slightly different set (#1D428A royal, PMS 151 for the orange). If you are printing anything licensed, ask the licensor for the current sheet.
Every Color in the Knicks Palette, One by One
Knicks Blue (#006BB6)
This is the anchor. It fills the ring of the roundball logo, it carries the road uniform, and it is the base for almost every piece of team signage inside Madison Square Garden.
Where it sits on the spectrum matters. It reads as a bright, slightly cool royal blue, not a navy blue. That distinction trips people up constantly. Look at a Knicks road jersey next to a Yankees cap and you’ll see how much lighter and more saturated the Knicks version runs. The city’s flag gave both the blue and the orange, which is also why the Mets ended up with the same two colors.
Knicks Orange (#F58426)
Officially the secondary, functionally the color everyone thinks of first. It’s the fill on the basketball in the logo, the wordmark, and the accent striping on both jerseys.
It’s a warm, mid-bright orange with a little red in it. Not neon, not rust. The mid-1990s version was noticeably hotter and more red (#FE5000, closer to a traffic-cone tone), which is why archival footage from the Ewing years looks off if you compare it to a jersey you buy today.
Silver (#BEC0C2)
Silver does the quiet work. It’s a drop shadow behind the wordmark, an outline separator between blue and orange, and a trim color on some uniform editions.
Pantone maps it to Cool Gray 5, which tells you it’s a neutral with a faint blue lean rather than a warm gray. Use it as a separator, not a fill. Large fields of it go flat fast.
Black
Black is the fourth wheel and gets argued about. It shows up in outlines, in shadow work on the logo, and in Statement and City uniforms. It is not a core identity color the way blue and orange are. Some spec sheets list Knicks black as a true #000000 and others give it a soft off-black at RGB (35, 31, 32). If you need the darker-ink version for print, PMS Black 6 C is the safer pick.
Knicks Jersey Colors
Home (Association): white base, orange numbers with blue outlines, blue and orange side striping.
Away (Icon): blue base, white numbers, orange trim.
Statement / City: these rotate. Recent Statement sets have leaned on orange and black; City editions have pulled from things like the vintage subway token, the MSG hardwood and old New York typography. Expect them to change every year or two, so don’t build a permanent brand asset around whatever the current one is.
How the Palette Got Here
The Knickerbockers came into the Basketball Association of America in 1946 and had blue and orange from the start. That was never a design committee decision. It’s the New York City flag, full stop.
1979 brought the “NY” roundel look. 1983 brought back a cleaner script.
The big shift came in 1992, when the team introduced the circular basketball logo that is still the primary mark today, along with a heavier, blockier uniform look. In 1995 the club rolled out the black alternate with the subway-token mark, one of the more divisive uniforms of that decade (I liked it, plenty of people didn’t). Black stuck around after that as a permanent accent, which is really the only meaningful addition to the original two-color identity in almost eighty years.
The current shades were tuned in 2011, when the team reverted to a cleaner, more classic look and settled on the #006BB6 and #F58426 pairing you see now.
Using the Colors
Web and screen: HEX or RGB. Print: CMYK, or Pantone if the job supports spot color.
One practical warning. Blue at #006BB6 with white text passes contrast at normal body sizes, but orange at #F58426 with white text does not. It fails WCAG AA badly. Put orange text on blue, or on black, or use it as a fill with dark text on top. I’ve seen more than one fan site ship an orange call-to-action button with white label text, and it’s genuinely hard to read on a phone in daylight.
“ :root { --knicks-blue: #006BB6; --knicks-orange: #F58426; --knicks-silver: #BEC0C2; --knicks-black: #000000; } `
Ratio that works for me: roughly 60% blue, 25% white or silver, 15% orange. Orange is a spice, not a base.
Related Reading
- NBA Team Color Codes (the full league hub, every team’s HEX and Pantone values)
- Blue color palettes for pairing ideas that go beyond the two-tone lock
- Orange color palettes if you’re building around the accent instead
- Gray color palettes for the neutral layer that keeps blue and orange from shouting at each other
FAQ on The New York Knicks Colors
What are the New York Knicks colors?
The New York Knicks colors are Knicks blue, Knicks orange and silver, with black as an accent. Blue (#006BB6) leads the palette. All three appear on the roundball logo, the uniforms and licensed merchandise.
What are the New York Knicks color codes in HEX and RGB?
Knicks blue is #006BB6, RGB (0, 107, 182). Knicks orange is #F58426, RGB (245, 132, 38). Silver is #BEC0C2, RGB (190, 192, 194). Black is #000000. Use these hex codes for web and screen work.
What are the Knicks Pantone colors?
Blue maps to PMS 293 C, orange to PMS 165 C, silver to PMS Cool Gray 5 C, and black to PMS Black 6 C. Some licensed apparel sheets list slightly different matches, so confirm with the printer before a spot-color run.
What is the primary color of the Knicks?
Blue. It fills the ring of the logo, carries the road (Icon) uniform, and dominates arena signage at Madison Square Garden. Orange gets more attention, but on the official spec sheet it sits in the secondary slot.
Why are the Knicks blue and orange?
Both come from the flag of New York City, which uses blue, white and orange. The team took the scheme when it joined the Basketball Association of America in 1946, and it has never been abandoned.
When did the Knicks adopt their current colors?
The current shades were set in 2011, when the franchise reverted to a cleaner, more classic look. The circular basketball logo dates to 1992, and black entered the palette with the 1995 subway-token alternate.
Are the Knicks colors the same as the Mets colors?
Close, not identical. Both pull blue and orange from the city flag, but the Mets run a much darker, near-navy blue. The Knicks use a brighter royal-leaning blue at #006BB6.
Is orange or blue the Knicks jersey base color?
Neither, usually. The home Association jersey is white with orange numbers and blue outlines; the away Icon jersey is blue. Orange typically appears as trim, numbering, or on rotating Statement and City sets.
What is the CMYK breakdown for Knicks colors?
Blue: 100, 56, 0, 0. Orange: 0, 59, 96, 0. Silver: 0, 0, 0, 29. Black: 0, 0, 0, 100. These are the print values. Don’t convert the hex yourself; the results drift.
Do other pro teams use the same orange as the Knicks?
Similar, rarely exact. The Orioles orange is deeper and redder, and 1990s Knicks orange (#FE5000) was hotter than today’s #F58426. Shade drift between franchises is normal.
Conclusion
The New York Knicks colors come down to four values you can copy straight into a design system: #006BB6, #F58426, #BEC0C2 and #000000.
Keep the blue as your base, treat orange as accent, and let silver separate the two.
Check contrast before you ship anything, and pull the Pantone codes from the table above when the job goes to print.
Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients.
His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8.
He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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Bogdan Sandu is a seasoned designer who has been designing websites since 2008. Renowned for his expertise in logo design and visual branding, Bogdan has developed a multitude of logos for various clients. His skills extend to creating posters, vector illustrations, business cards, and brochures. Additionally, Bogdan's UI kits were featured on marketplaces like Visual Hierarchy and UI8. He also wrote in the past years on sites like Design Your Way, WebDesignerDepot, WPDean, Designmodo, Speckyboy, Slider Revolution, and more.
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