Photo: Lakers, Celtics and All NBA Cup Court Designs Revealed Ahead of 2024 Format
The second annual NBA Cup will feature the return of customized court designs for in-season tournament games.
The court designs for the 2023 in-season tournament champion Los Angeles Lakers, the 2024 NBA champion Boston Celtics and the rest of the teams in the league were revealed on Thursday:
Per Tim Newcomb of Forbes, the goal of the NBA Cup court designs is to "highlight the association's Statement Edition uniforms." All 30 teams were able to personalize their respective courts through an artistic "wallpaper" that covers them entirely in a 30 percent opacity "that allowed each team their own take on the design, whether a logo, wordmark, cityscape or unique element that ties to the city," Newcomb explained.
"We were urging teams to go with the vibrancy, the boldness of these things, the statement we're meant to be making," artist Victor Solomon told Newcomb. "We were encouraging people to go even further."
Solomon added that he enjoyed collaborating with each team's creative group to see their unique approaches to personalizing the courts in a way that would resonate with fans. For example, the Lakers' court features the Los Angeles cityscape, while the Celtics' court features a parquet floor.
"We were building the system, setting the foundation, getting the team involved to put their cherry on top," Solomon said.
The new courts will be seen across group play and the quarterfinals of the in-season tournament, which is set to begin on Nov. 12. The NBA has been committed to differentiating between regular-season games and tournament games, and these new designs are a continuation of that effort.
