The second season of the NBA’s in-season tournament is set to commence on Tuesday, November 12. There are a few big changes made by the league for the second go-around. The most relevant is that it’s now called the Emirates NBA Cup, as opposed to last year’s In-Season Tournament title.
The most significant change for viewers, however, comes in the form of the alternate courts. Last year the NBA introduced bold new courts to be used specifically during NBA Cup games. The floors featured brash coloring and creative patterns to signify to the average fan that something about this game was special—that it was an in-season tournament game.
For the 2024-25 season, the NBA has made new alternate courts to loudly announce the presence of the NBA Cup. Here you’ll find every team’s alternate court they’ll use throughout the NBA Cup schedule.
Of course, you may first be wondering what this NBA Cup business is all about.
In an effort to make regular season games more meaningful and add another competitive dimension to the season, the NBA introduced an in-season tournament in 2023-24. Teams were placed into groups for the qualifying round, similar to how Olympic basketball is played, and the winners advance to the knockout stage. The games in the qualifying round count towards a team’s overall record like a regular-season game, but the knockout rounds do not.
There’s a quarterfinal, semifinal, and finally a championship game that is held in neutral territory: Las Vegas. The winning team gets a trophy, a banner, and a cool $500,000 for each member of the roster.
Last year, the Los Angeles Lakers and Indiana Pacers faced off in the inaugural in-season tournament final. The Lakers emerged victorious as the first-ever winners.
You can check out the full schedule for each team here. Broadly speaking, every NBA team will play four qualifying round games. These games are scheduled to take place on six days: November 12, November 15, November 22, November 26, November 29, and December 3.
The quarterfinals, the first stage of the knockout round, will take place on December 10 and December 11. The semifinals are to be held on December 14, and the final will be on December 17.
Now, here are all the NBA Cup courts scheduled to be used this season. All pictures are courtesy of the NBA.
The Hawks pay homage here to their city initials, with ATL on the court. The colors represent an inverse of their standard home blacks with the strong yellow outlined by the baseline. True to Atlanta, indeed.
The Hawks did not make it out of the qualifying round in 2023 and will aim for a better showing this time around as part of the East C group.
The personalized touch for the defending champs are the parquet outlines; there was a big outcry in Boston last year that the in-season tournament court wasn’t parquet. The NBA has fixed that problem and leaned into it more broadly as the design for the Celtics specifically.
Boston lost in the quarterfinals last year to the Pacers.
This court does a good job leaning into the color scheme for the Nets. Some fans may be confused by the floor pattern. The pattern is a “herringbone” pattern and has been used by the Nets since 2019 in various capacities in an attempt to mimic floor patterns in some Brooklyn brownstones. A deep cut for anyone who lives outside the five boroughs.
The Nets failed to make it out of the qualifying round last season.
Unlike most courts you’ll see the Hornets actually downplayed their color scheme a bit as their blue home jerseys are already quite loud. Charlotte additionally enjoys one of the more natural floor patterns you’ll see— honeycombs littering the floor, an obvious nod to the Hornets name.
The Hornets did not live to see past the qualifying round in the first in-season-tournament.
The Bulls clearly kept it simple with their court. The colors are the same as their jerseys. The pattern of the court is just an enlarged version of their logo. Nothing wrong with keeping it simple, and in fact some fans may thank them for keeping the field of play as clean as possible.
The Bulls didn’t qualify for the elimination round in 2023.
The Cavs have a solid color scheme as is and didn’t do too much to mess with it as far as their NBA Cup court design went. The pattern is a nice callback to their “V” net logo from the 1980s, which also ensures the middle of the court doesn’t have too much going on. All the gold from the NBA Cup naturally compliments the whole program well, too.
The Cavaliers did not make it past the qualifying round in the first iteration of the in-season tournament.
The Mavericks kept to their blue roots with a quality court here. The background is a lovely snapshot of the Dallas skyline and generally the Mavs’ shade of blue is easy on the eyes. The gold pops well.
Dallas failed to qualify for the elimination round last season.
Did you know Denver has a high elevation? In case you did not the Nuggets did everything they could to remind you. The “Mile High City” provides a backdrop to the predominant yellow court with the elevation clearly listed. Classic Nuggets all-around here.
Denver did not make it to the knockout rounds last year.
The Pistons leaned more into the black than the red for their court, which is helpful for viewers who are colorblind if anything. This may be a tougher court to watch action on despite that. They just threw the Pistons logo everywhere and the upside-down Detroit right above “In It For My City” is a little confusing.
The Pistons did not survive past the group stage in 2023.
The Warriors went heavy with the gray for their court, for some reason. The stylized W at center court is a new secondary logo the team is trying to push. There are worse strategies than keeping it simple, although Golden State fans may be jealous of teams who leaned more into the culture of the home city.
The Dubs did not make it to the elimination round last year.
The Rockets stayed true to their generally appealing shade of red and the splashes of white are great compliments. The lines may seem odd at first but they are supposed to give the illusion of blasting through space, which is a very cool idea regardless of how you feel about the execution. Real hyperspace hours.
The Rockets did not qualify for the elimination round in 2023.
Indiana didn’t see a reason to stray too far from their primary color scheme, which is respectable. The “Boom baby” backstory is cool, too. Legendary Pacers coach Bobby “Slick” Leonard used it as a catchphrase during radio broadcasts for many years. A unique look with a nod to team history is the optimal alternate court and the Pacers nailed it.
Indiana is hoping to build off their NBA Cup success of last year, where the Pacers made it to the finals before getting crushed by LeBron James and the Lakers.
The Clippers are playing in their own stadium for the first time in over two decades and didn’t get weird with their alternate court look. The colors are as expected and the cursive Clippers in the background never gets old. The new ship logo, introduced for this season, takes center stage.
The Clippers didn’t qualify to advance past the group stage last year.
There’s nothing like the purple and gold and the Lakers know it. Best to stick with it, as they obviously did here. The Los Angeles skyline combined with the championship years held within Hollywood Walk of Fame stars on the sideline is a tremendous look. The Lakers know branding, that’s for sure.
The first-time in-season tournament champs, L.A. clearly hopes to defend its title.
The Grizzlies went with the gray court to emphasize the blue with a fun design behind it. Not much to complain about there.
Memphis failed to qualify for the elimination round last year.
Pretty much what you’d expect from the Heat here. The background of the court is a fire and the primary color is related to fire. The deep red is always appealing around the baseline. It is probably better than their city edition court from last year which featured an entire paragraph in the paint.
Miami didn’t appear past the qualifying round in 2023.
The Bucks went heavy on the deer theme for this court, with antlers portruding from both baskets and the “Fear the Deer” tagline prominently featured on the sideline. It’s interesting to lean into the blue more than the green but the overall resulting color combination is appealing.
The Bucks qualified for the elimination round last year and defeated the Knicks before losing to the Pacers in the semis.
The Timberwolves decided to lean heavily into the shade of green they’ve featured so strongly on jersey designs in recent years. This is the court that will be the most interesting to see in-person. Otherwise the treeline is pretty cool and the black is always a great part of Minnesota’s kit.
The Wolves didn’t qualify for the elimination round last year.
The Pelicans went with an enlarged, zoomed-in version of their logo as the primary look for their court. The red is a good touch. Not a lot going on otherwise, which isn’t a bad thing.
The Pelicans qualified for the quarterfinals in 2023 and took down the Kings before losing to the Lakers in the semifinals.
There’s no place in the country like New York City and the Knicks wisely leaned into that with the skyline of the Big Apple primarily featured on the court. They otherwise kept it simple with the orange and blue coloring. Smart design.
The Knicks qualified for the elimination round in the first in-season tournament but lost to the Bucks in the quarterfinals.
Like a few other teams the Thunder didn’t get too complicated with their design. The colors are straightforward and the background pattern is merely an enlarged version of their logo. Safe.
The Thunder didn’t qualify for the elimination round last season.
The Magic went mostly with gray, which helps bring out the stars decorating the hardwood. A cool and unique feature that they’re wise to push to the forefront.
The Magic didn’t make it past the group stage in 2023.
More stars! The Sixers leaned into the circle design more than any other team here. The stages of the NBA Cup are supposed to be represented with those three circles, and then the Sixers tapped into their alternate logo to finish the job. The cursive is a wonderful touch.
Philly didn’t qualify for the elimination rounds last season.
The Suns didn’t go crazy here. The orange, as always, pops. The black with the color palette on the sideline is very cool. And nothing to complain about with PHX adorning the backdrop.
Phoenix made it past the group stage in 2023 but got knocked out by the Lakers in the quarterfinals.
The Blazers got really into Portland’s alter ego here, with the City of Roses playing a prominent role. The gray flowers are neat and the actual title on the sideline is unique. Cool stuff.
The Trail Blazers were eliminated in the group stage in 2023.
Another gray court for the Kings. The pattern is supposed to be the lines on a king’s crown but it gets a little busy and the bright Golden1 Center logo doesn’t feel quite right with the purple and gray.
The Kings made it out of the group stage in 2023 but were eliminated by the Pelicans in the knockout stage.
It makes sense for the Spurs to play with plenty of gray and did a good job mixing in black. The backdrop takes the cake as the coolest part of this, though, with the spur inside Texas state lines. A lot of boxes are checked here.
San Antonio failed to advance in 2023.
The Raptors do enjoy their purple and made it clear with this court. They tried to incorporate the barbed wire lettering from their alternate uniforms into the court but it remains to be seen how well that plays out in person.
The Raptors did not make it out of the group stage in 2023.
The Jazz went away from the more historic coloring of their jerseys and instead leaned more modern with the gray and white. The mountain background is a cool touch and overall aligns very well with the cups and team logo.
Utah was eliminated in the group stage last season.
The Wizards stuck with the lighter colors of their jersey, leaning into the pink pretty heavily. The Washington Bullets logo in the background is an ode to the team’s history, which they’re featuring more prominently this season.
The Wizards didn’t make it to the elimination stage last year.
That’s all of ’em. Enjoy!
