NBA’s Emirates Cup Features New 2024 Courts. What’s Changed?

The National Basketball Association unveiled Thursday the floor designs for the second iteration of the Emirates NBA Cup, and while they’re just as distinctive as last year’s, there are still material changes—at least figuratively, if not literally.

As was the case last year for the event previously known as the in-season tournament, the floor designs for the upcoming Emirates Cup feature full-color motifs and no natural wood showing. Again utilizing a unified design template, the designs are aimed at creating a clear visual separation between regular-season games and these tournament matchups. That very different look became a defining element of the debut tournament last year, and it is poised to be so again in 2024. 

The new designs, created by artist Victor Solomon, tie in part into Nike’s NBA Statement Edition alternate uniforms that will be worn by home teams during the tournament games. Road teams will wear Nike NBA Association Edition uniforms. A trio of concentric circles in each individual team’s design denotes the three stages of the tournament: group play, quarterfinals, and then the semifinals and final. 

But while there are clear carry-overs from a year ago, the NBA is following through on planned efforts to address issues from last year with traction on tournament floors. Several players complained those floors were overly slippery, in part because of the heavy amount of paint involved. The three-point line in Denver’s Ball Arena also needed to be reapplied after it was wrongly measured for the tournament. 

Following the event, won last year by the Lakers, league officials vowed to review and adjust how the floors were designed, built, and installed. The league has employed a longer production runway for the second year of the tournament to help ensure quality control. The NBA also streamlined that development process, working this time with a single manufacturer, Ohio-based Robbins, one of its existing approved floor vendors. 

The NBA Emirates Cup begins Nov. 12 and will run through Dec. 17, again finishing up at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.