Buying a jersey for a relative

Hey guys, I have a twelve year old cousin living in U.S, specifically, the San Jose region. I was looking around the NBA online store for a bit, and my eyes caught on to several jerseys (a Rockets T-Mac swingman home jersey, T-Mac being his (and my) favourite player). Ironically, as big an NBA fan myself, I've never got around to purchasing authentic/swingman jerseys myself, both due to geographical and restrictive issues (Being far from the NY NBA store, and my parents aren't exactly fond of purchasing near hundred-dollar clothing, but this is a special occasion). So here I am seeking advice from some of the "pro" jersey-buyers out there. For an average twelve-year old (he's around 5"5-5"6, I believe), what would be the best-fit size for a jersey? I was looking at X-Large, but I'm still not quite sure if I should select the XX-Large.

Some advice and help would be very much appreciated. Please enlighten me, all you jersey buyers out there!

x-large is fine i am 5'8 and my DR J jersey fits kinda big on me!

Cool. Thanks a lot! If so, my cousin probably will have many years on that jersey...until T-Mac retires.

Hey guys, I have a twelve year old cousin living in U.S, specifically, the San Jose region.

San Jo? AZN country. don't mess with the azns there.


I'd say a kid's XL is a better fit, kid's large Large might be a little tight depending on if he's fat. but seeing that he's probably asian, i'd say large or XL. and some advice? buy a Gary Payton jersey.

shipping to Canada must be ridonkulous.

I'd say a kid's XL is a better fit, kid's large Large might be a little tight depending on if he's fat. but seeing that he's probably asian, i'd say large or XL. and some advice? buy a Gary Payton jersey.

shipping to Canada must be ridonkulous.

You got that one! He has an average, if not slim, build, since he plays basketball almost twenty-four seven (I got him into it ). Anyway, thanks for the tip Qballer, and I'll perhaps look into that Payton advice when purchasing a jersey myself . And I'm basically shipping it to his address, so hopefully it's a much simpler process.

While I'm at it, what is the difference between a swingman and an authentic jersey? I searched around the interweb, and the best I got were the difference between the materials, the brand overlays, and perhaps most obviously, the price tag. The outside appearance is about the same, so I'm not keen on putting forward (or rather, my parents aren't so keen) an extra $100 just for the materials that may not even matter. My cousin probably won't be able to tell the difference between swingman and authentic (he only buys replicas ), so here I have another question: is it worth it?

And are replica jerseys lower quality in terms of "aging" (the frequency of being "worn out", I don't really know how to describe it...does it "break apart" easily?) when compared with swingman? Or is it simply the appearance, the "mesh" body that separates swingman from replica?

I know, I know, a lot of questions. New to this thing. So, anyone care to tackle 'em?

Hey guys, I have a twelve year old cousin living in U.S, specifically, the San Jose region.

San Jo? AZN country. don't mess with the azns there.


I'd say a kid's XL is a better fit, kid's large Large might be a little tight depending on if he's fat. but seeing that he's probably asian, i'd say large or XL. and some advice? buy a Gary Payton jersey.

shipping to Canada must be ridonkulous.

Viet country.

yes. it's definitely worth it. Replicas are really cheap (in cost and quality) and they seem to fall apart faster. you'll get cracks in the screen print as time goes on.

I usually go with swingman jerseys for my throwbacks and they are pretty good for a casual fan. authentics are almost like the real thing. the best quality, the numbers are sewn into the jersey, i think it's worth the $150 if you'll really treasure it.

For a serious collector, the authentics are awesome and the quality is fantastic. However, it is a lot of money to put down for one jersey especially for a twelve year old who might not have finished growing. You might want to consider a swingman instead.

Thank you very much guys, I've decided to go with an X-large swingman jersey direct from NBA online store. Your tips and guidelines have been helpful, and they'll definitely turn me into a pro-jersey buyer one day . As for CB4's suggestion, my father, who's paying for the jeresy, had some unpleasant experiences with some sellers on eBay. So he'd rather put down the extra $30 or $40 from an official store. Good advice nonetheless, when I'm looking into an jersey myself, I'll be sure to browse eBay, as its selections are probably a lot more vast than that of the NBA store (online, at least).

Thanks!