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Buying a Sixers jersey in a store could get more complicated

If you're looking to pick up a replica Joel Embiid jersey, you might want to make that purchase sooner than later.

Starting next season, the NBA will stop distributing its lowest-priced replica jerseys to traditional sporting goods stores, according to sources within the league.

Instead, the NBA's lowest-priced jerseys, currently made by Adidas, will be available at two web sites and a few brick-and-mortar locations.  Online, the replica jerseys will be sold exclusively through Fanatics.com and NBAStore.com.  Fans will also be able to  buy the replica jerseys at the NBA store on Fifth Avenue in New York and NBA team retail stores.

The Wall Street Journal was first to report on the deal.

Fans will still be able to buy higher-priced jerseys, which will be manufactured by Nike, at retail stores. But according to the Wall Street Journal, those jerseys currently range in cost between $110 and $300, much higher than the $70 currently being charged for the replica jerseys made by Adidas.

The price of the new replica jersey has not been released.

Details of the new agreement and how much Fanatics paid the league for the deal are also unknown.

The move will certainly be a setback for sporting-goods retailers, such as Modell's and Dick's, where a large portion of revenue from licensed apparel comes from replica jerseys.

But it also means fans won't have to wait quite so long for popular player jerseys and new releases, thanks to the streamlining that will come with Fanatics selling, manufacturing and distributing the products.