In hopes of launching its new event with a bang, the NBA has undertaken a comprehensive visual redesign of its playing courts.
The NBA will employ redesigned, painted courts for its inaugural in-season tournament, including this purple and gold design for the Los Angeles Lakers. presented an interesting dilemma for league officials: Tournament games will count in the standings as normal regular season games, but officials felt they must have a different look and feel if the new event is going to gain credibility and stand out on the 82-game calendar.
“We’re all trying to figure out the best ways we can elevate this from the regular season so that people understand how important this is,” said Christopher Arena, the NBA’s head of on-court and brand partnerships. “It all comes together in the most powerful way in these courts. This is the first time we’ve had courts that are completely painted. There’s no wood being shown. Each court takes its inspiration from the uniforms.
“We’re playing with a purple court in the NBA? No way,” Durant said. “Never done before, right? That’s insane.”Indeed, Phoenix’s court is starkly different from the team’s normal look, which uses standard hardwood, sports an orange logo at center court and purple paint in the key. By contrast, the tournament court is purple on top and bottom with turquoise as the central strip. At center court, “El Valle” — Spanish for “The Valley” — is written over the top of the NBA Cup trophy logo.
The in-season tournament begins Friday and will run on Tuesdays and Fridays throughout November, with the exception of Election Day. The event will conclude at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas with the semifinals Dec. 7 and a championship game Dec. 9.The multi-round tournament opens with the 30 teams divided into six groups of five in a round-robin group stage. Eight teams — the six group winners and two wild cards — will advance to a knockout round.
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