The NBA Unveiled Colorful In-Season Tournament Courts For All 30 Teams

The NBA is doing its best to make the In-Season Tournament stand out in its inaugural year. With group games beginning this weekend, the league has been trying to get fans excited with a (very good) Heist ad campaign that is running on most game broadcasts, but one of the biggest challenges is making the games, which are just regular season games with a tournament designation, feel a bit more important.

The league has been trying to spice up the regular season for some time and they hope the tournament can do that, but they also know they can’t just have the same look and feel as any other game. As such, the league unveiled new courts for all 30 teams that are very colorful and will undoubtedly stand out from what we see on a nightly basis — many of which take cues from this year’s City Edition uniforms.

Now, while I don’t think all of them are great, I do think it’s a smart move from the NBA to make tournament games easily identifiable when you turn one on. Given the groups aren’t going to be remembered by most fans — and they’re going to change every year — it’s going to be a bit tricky remembering what games are cup games. However, with the courts being so different from the normal courts — and even alternates teams go to sometimes — it’s going to be immediately understood when you’re watching a tournament game, which is needed to get people invested in it.

While some teams went with a pretty basic approach, others got wild with their designs, with the Pelicans, Pacers, Suns, and Knicks getting very colorful.