NBA Cup Courts Receive Mixed Reviews in Year 2 Debut

The first set of court designs for the Emirates NBA Cup was used Tuesday, and, depending on perspective, were either remarkable or a complete eyesore.

Eight teams unveiled their home court during Day 1 of the second iteration of the NBA’s in-season tournament. The new designs, created by artist Victor Solomon, were tied to the Nike Statement Edition uniform of each team, so the courts ranged from a deep green base in Boston to a light gray in Golden State.

TNT’s Inside the NBA crew reacted favorably to the designs. “That’s a sweet court right there,” Charles Barkley said about the Celtics’ court. Kenny Smith agreed, while Ernie Johnson said he preferred the gray Trail Blazers court with rose silhouettes to symbolize the “city of roses.”

However, not everyone was pleased with the designs. The Sixers’ blue court, which was featured in the first national game on TNT, received some poor feedback from fans, with some on X calling the court “horrendous” or “an atrocity.”

“Sixers look like they’ve got a rubber court,” Bomani Jones wrote on X.

Even Sixers coach Nick Nurse wasn’t pleased with the new design. “I like the blue court a lot better [than last year’s], but boy, that’s not saying a whole lot,” Nurse said after the game.

While the reviews on the court’s aesthetics may be mixed, fortunately for the NBA, there have yet to be any major complaints about the designs affecting player performance. Last season, the three-point arc in Denver’s Ball Arena had to be reapplied due to alignment issues, while some players found the excessive designs to be slippery.

“As players, we’re all here for the in-season tournament because it’s going to generate revenue, excitement, competition,” Celtics star Jaylen Brown said last November. “We’ve got to make sure the floor is safe to play on. We can’t put our players out there and risk their health.”

The league prioritized the quality of the courts this year, working with a single vendor, rather than three different ones last season, to manufacture the floors.