Are The Special NBA Cup Court Designs More Trouble Than They Are Worth?

The NBA Cup in-season tournament debuted during the 2023-2024 season. The tournament serves a lot of purposes. In a time when the NBA is trying to force teams to stop giving marquee players games off to rest, it makes many regular-season games more important. The second championship also gives teams trying to tank a season to get a top spot in the draft lottery more incentive to try to win regular-season games. The in-season tournament also gives regular-season games a more exciting playoff feel, which can draw in more fans and make for more drama.

Finally, the NBA Cup gives middle-of-the-road teams or teams that are worn down by injuries by the end of the regular season a chance to win something. A team just needs to get hot for a few weeks early in the season when, generally, their players are fresher and healthier. The tournament is a win for everyone. The fans get more competitive games with higher stakes early in the season. The players get a second chance to win something, even if their team is not considered an NBA Championship contender. The league gets both of those things, plus a higher level of competition during the regular season and higher attendance for regular-season games.

The Pros Of The NBA Cup Designs

To promote the Emirates NBA Cup, the league came up with special court designs for each team’s arena that are only used for the tournament games. The designs are a marketing tool along the lines of the special jerseys that are used for some NBA, NFL, and MLB games. They are something fresh and new and different to draw in fans and raise appeal for what would normally be just another regular-season game. It is an aesthetic change, but it does add some flair to the process. Here is a look at the special court designs.

The Cons Of The Designs

Dončić is not the only player to complain about the slick designs being too slick. This is not a new issue. Jaylen Brown, Tyrese Haliburton, and others have spoken out publicly about the slippery designs in the past. With multiple players slipping during the game on Tuesday, any one of them could have injured a knee or an ankle and missed time. Following the Laker point guard‘s initial complaint before the game, officials were unable to improve the playing surface sufficiently to improve traction for the players. It is only a slick marketing plan if it is safe.

End Of My NBA Cup Floor Design Rant

The NBA Cup floor designs look cool. I will be the first to admit that. Player safety, however, should always be the top priority. If the league cannot figure out a way to prevent the floors from being too slick, the designs need to go away. It is as simple as that. Some people tried to explain away Tuesday’s issue as condensation from changing the floor out after a hockey game played in the same arena the night before. This isn’t just an issue with the Crypto.com Arena, though. The special court designs reduce the traction on the playing surface. The substance used reduces the friction you get from the normal wood grain floor. It is simple physics.

I am all for the league hyping up the NBA Cup with fancy floor designs, but it is time to do the research to find a design that does not reduce traction. If the goal is to market the league, the players are the most marketable thing that the league has to offer. If Dončić, LeBron James, James Harden, Kawhi Leonard, or budding star Austin Reeves had gone down with an ankle or knee injury on Tuesday, how does that benefit the league? This is the classic case of style over substance. The flashy floor design can’t be prioritized over the real product–the gifted athletes that put butts in the seats.