Ranking NBA Cup Courts from Worst to ‘Please Remove This’

OK. Let’s start with the Hawks. This one at least looks a little like a normal basketball court. Just a little bit. That yellow will probably make my eyes bleed on TV, but whatever. At least the Hawks color scheme is still nice.

I’d say the same about the Nuggets here. This is not good. But at the very least, it looks like a basketball court. I can appreciate that. What I can’t appreciate, however, is that the Nuggets organization is still bombarding us with the whole elevation thing. Enough. We don’t care.

Shout out to Dikembe Mutombo though.

It’s not terrible! That’s a lot of wine in between, sure. I guess they took the whole “Cup overflowing” thing seriously. But this is definitely one of the best courses you will see today. In relative terms, at least.

OK. Remember when I said these courts look like the Target logo? I don’t know how you can look at this court and just not see the Target logo. It’s ridiculous.

Having roses in the background of this court only to clog them with this disgusting grayscale color is a crime against humanity.

I understand why the Hornets would go with this honeycomb look. Obviously, it’s the Hornets.

But let’s be real: This doesn’t look very good on a basketball court. It just seems strange. I feel sorry for those of you who have aichmophobia. Google it if you don’t know what it is.

The Lakers’ court doesn’t look special at all, which is a travesty considering the Lakers won this entire cup last season anyway. Shouldn’t they put some kind of special logo or something here? I mean, jeez.

This court looks better than Brooklyn’s season is about to end. I should also point out that this court does not look very good. Keep this in mind when making your over/unders this year, friends.

When people say the Lakers won a Mickey Mouse championship in the NBA Bubble, this is what I imagine the court would look like in that hypothetical scenario. Obviously it wasn’t like that. And this is the Magic court. But put a pair of Mickey Mouse ears in the middle of this and tell me it doesn’t look like something you’d see on a Disney Channel Original. You can’t.

They are the Spurs. It’s boring. Next.

What’s with all this gray, man? It makes the courts seem so dull. It would be one thing for Memphis to prominently display the color in its logo, but that’s not really the case. What are we doing here?

Any games scheduled for Halloween this year must be played on this court. Simply turn the center circle into a Jack-O-Lantern and we’ll cook with gas.

First of all, I completely forgot that this stadium is now called Kaseya Center. Greetings to this court for reminding me. Also, a subtle reminder to never trust funny money. You know the vibes.

Also, one more thing: When did this become Pat Riley Court? Did you know? It doesn’t matter. I’m asking too many questions.

Is this a basketball court or is it the design of a beer can? I can’t tell the difference. Sorry, 76ers fans. That’s rude of me.

I didn’t know the Dallas city skyline was striking enough to put on a basketball court like this. I’m not going to lie to you: I never thought about what that would be like. It seems very forgettable.

I think we’re supposed to take off here on this court because obviously it was made for the Rockets. But forgive me, because it seems that we are falling into the abyss.

The great thing about this court is that it looks like the Knicks have finally abandoned the whole double vision thing! The bad thing about this court is everything else.

However, this time at least they used a real popular skyline in the background.

Imagine vomiting all over a beautiful tapestry of a winter forest. That’s what this court is like. Who thought this green was a good idea?

I know the Raptors are bringing back the ’90s style this year with the purple jerseys, but this seems ridiculous.

The Celtics’ court in general is already pretty unique. Parquet floors are great. But enlarging the parquet and turning it green? Not great. This is so over the top and ridiculous.

I wouldn’t dare disrespect to Bobby “Slick” Leonard and the legend that is. Shout out to the Pacers for including their words on the court. But if. I’ll save the rest of my thoughts on this one.

The Clippers are debuting the most fun stadium in the NBA this season and this is the best the league could come up with for their court? The lack of creativity seems incredible to me. It also doesn’t help that this court is basically the same as the Pelicans’, which…

It has to be the most boring design choice ever. At least we’re far from the ugly green colors New Orleans wore last season. But now we have the creepy pelican as a background on the ground. Honestly, can we finally rename this thing?

Grayer, huh? What a shame. The Kings are better than this. Chris Webber didn’t sacrifice his perfect hairline for the Kings to deviate so much from their original color scheme. This is disgusting.

When I first saw this logo I had no idea it was for the Warriors. Whose logo did I think it was? I’m not completely sure. Looks like something you’d create for an expansion team in NBA 2K. The Wilmington Wallabees or something like that. Definitely not the Golden State Warriors.

This is indescribably boring, which is extremely disappointing considering the Jazz are bringing back their mountain purple color scheme for their jerseys this season. Somehow, this feels perfectly like Utah.

I know they’re supposed to be deer antlers emerging from the baselines on this Bucks court, but when you squint really hard, they look like onions. Do it! Oh really. Don’t they look like onions? No? Did I just lose my mind this far down the list? OK. I understand.

Thank you for coming this far.

There’s a lot going on on this court, between the Thunder logo in the center and in the background and all the different variations of blue here. We need the Thunder to just have an image and stick to it.

There are about seven basketballs in the Pistons’ court here, which just so happens to be the same spot they land in the 2025 NBA Draft.

I’m sorry. That was bad. But hey, Pistons fans. Look on the positive side. At least he won’t be number 5 again!

I hope the Wizards put in as much effort this season as they did on this court. Cooper Flagg, welcome to DC!