Red Alert and Green Goodness: Analyzing the 2025 NBA Cup Courts

The NBA Cup is wrapping up its third year of competition and fans are still taking their time buying into it.

Part of the curiosity around the tournament is what each team brings for its special edition court. They are always eyebrow-raising either because of their bold colors or subtle patterns. All 30 courts were designed by Victor Solomon for the second year in a row and have a 5x5 grid pattern representing each team’s five players in the game and the five teams in each group.

"I think it’s important to know that the court as a canvas is very intimidating because of its scale," Solomon told NBA.com. "There could be an instinct to over-ornamentalize the core design with a million nooks and crannies into the form. So my second big contribution was to create something that was elementally graphic in its simplicity to set the table for a deeper collaboration with all 30 teams and allow them to contribute to each of their local stories."

And in regards to the colors, the artist said that the NBA has been taking notes since the inception of the tournament, which marked the first time historic teams like the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers had an alternate court. Some of the rules: no black or white courts, and keep a consistent design from one side of the court to the other.

Rather than ranking the courts at the beginning of the tournament, we decided to do so at the end when fans got the chance to actually see them in person, or on TV, rather than just a graphic.

The NBA Cup semifinals start Saturday in Las Vegas with the title game on Tuesday, also in Sin City. The New York Knicks, Orlando Magic, San Antonio Spurs, and Oklahoma City Thunder have traded in their colorful courts for a stark black and wood design specifically for Vegas.

Here's Kick The Concrete's analysis of the 2025 NBA Cup Courts:

Pretty Basic NBA Cup Courts

Not every single NBA Cup court is going to be a home run. There are a handful of teams whose base colors are black and white, and there's only so much you can do with that. It's clear that some franchises wanted to play it safe. And that's okay.

Brooklyn Nets

Yawn.

Orlando Magic

Eh. The stars are cool!

Sacramento Kings

Honestly, looks just like a normal court...

San Antonio Spurs

We love a good grayscale, but this is boring and hard to see what's going on. Their colorful '90s City Edition court is where it's at.

Golden State Warriors

Fresh but not wow.

Miami Heat

For a yellow court, this isn't bad at all. A nice tone. The overall concept isn't anything special, though. Nothing will ever beat their Miami Vice theme, which the team brought back for their City Edition this year.

Not Excellent but Not Terrible NBA Cup Courts

There are many NBA teams who opted for blue as the base for their Cup Court. So we saw nearly every shade of the primary color. The use of the wordmark is what helped differentiate the okay courts from the great ones.

Detroit Pistons

At least it's not bright red, but the blue is bold and kind of distracting.

Philadelphia 76ers

Pretty mediocre.

Boston Celtics

Feels like a video game green screen, but we think the exaggerated parquet design is actually cool.

Oklahoma City Thunder

This blue had more of a gray tint that makes it digestible.

Los Angeles Clippers

A strong blue color. The red trim keeps this one from being great.

New Orleans Pelicans

Another blue color that is aesthetically pleasing. The "NOLA" wordmark has a lot of character and sets this apart.

Portland Trail Blazers

The darker of the gray courts. It makes the gold of the trophy stand out well. We're thankful they didn't go with red.

Indiana Pacers

We are so glad the amateur highlighter court is gone. This navy court is a decent upgrade.

Red Alert NBA Cup Courts

It's well known that red is a stressful color. You have a higher percentage of getting pulled over if you drive a red car. Yes, some NBA teams have red as their primary color, so it would make sense with the assignment given they ran with that for their courts. But it's just not helpful on the heart rate.

Washington Wizards

Need sunglasses for this one.

Houston Rockets

Pain.

Atlanta Hawks

*squinting hard

Toronto Raptors

Heart rate is HIGH.

Cleveland Cavaliers

The darker red makes this one okay. Not great.

Denver Nuggets

This was much better than their yellow one from last year, and actually got decent reviews. But still... It's hard to stare at it for more than a minute or so.

Eye-Burning NBA Cup Courts

These courts are simply the WORST. The colors are so bright that it's hard to even look at the TV and take the NBA Cup seriously.

Los Angeles Lakers

Can't do it.

New York Knicks

Of all the blue courts, this one was too bright. And the orange and yellow accents don't help it at all.

Utah Jazz

We're a sucker for purple. But this is not it.

Phoenix Suns

Where's the ball?!

Minnesota Timberwolves

Just ouch.

The Best NBA Cup Courts

Then there are the NBA teams that hit the perfect balance of color and design. Some of the best NBA Cup Courts did have a bold splash of color. Some were more muted. But these are the ones that best captured the idea that the Cup games are different yet still allowed them to be functional basketball courts.

Charlotte Hornets

A bright pop of blue that isn't TOO bright. And the honeycomb design is fun.

Memphis Grizzlies

A neutral-colored court that's not boring. The way the parquet flows with the design of "Memphis" is *chef's kiss.

Dallas Mavericks

This blue is the Goldilocks of NBA Cup Courts. Not too dull. Not too bright. Just right.

Chicago Bulls

Their blood red court two years ago definitely would have been on the red alert list back then. But this year's, with just "Chicago" in red with a gray base, was subtle and tasteful.

Milwaukee Bucks

Ah... This is “green goodness.” This forest green could have easily been too dark, but it's not. It's soothing and lets the basketball action on the court do the talking.