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Ranking The 2025 NBA Cup Courts From Worst To Best

Ben Pfeifer Written by Sports EditorBen Pfeifer
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2024 NBA Cup, Milwaukee Bucks

The Emirates NBA Cup courts keep getting better. For the third run of the NBA’s new early season fixtures, the league shifted from big colorful bars in year one to circles in year two to mosaic, grid-like courts in year three.

These aren’t all perfect but the direction seems to be improving. And for the second year in a row, we’ll rank all 30 new NBA Cup courts, in what has become my favorite annual piece to write. As usual, these rankings are primarily based on my subjective opinion but I’ll attempt to maintain some level of consistency. These rankings, which we’ll split into tiers, encompass the courts’ design, color scheme and any other hidden details. You can take a look at all 30 courts here:

At this point, we have three years of court designs. For the first time, I’ll consider if/how the color schemes and designs have evolved or adapted and will include last year’s court ranking in parentheses. Since we have a second year of data, let’s discuss some broad trends before diving into the rankings.

  • The courts overall toned down the saturation and gigantic center court logos, which benefited some and hurt others.
  • As I alluded to, the courts overall are higher quality than last season and the season before. The bottom two tiers include six courts compared to 11 last season. The top two tiers contain 16 courts compared to 11 last season.
  • The biggest risers from last season are Detroit (plus-11), Miami (plus-19) and Utah (plus-19). The biggest fallers are Chicago (minus-12), Dallas (minus-11) and the Lakers (minus-11)
  • I don’t like gray courts

These Will Hurt To Look At

  1. New Orleans Pelicans (25)

Just as I wrote last season, I’m generally not a fan of these extremely deep blue courts with giant, distracting logos. 

  1. Oklahoma City Thunder (28)

This court is way, way too deep blue with another logo a bit too big. I enjoy the orange outline here but I wish Oklahoma City went with a lighter shade of blue.

  1. Denver Nuggets (27)

Despite coming in at 28th, I like this court better than last year’s bright yellow edition. Something about those colors in conjunction with each other just doesn’t work for me but I can imagine this ranking being unpopular.

Why Is It So Gray?

  1. Golden State Warriors (24)

Golden State has too much source material to work with to continue to roll out these drab, gray floors.

  1. Sacramento Kings (22)

This isn’t a terrible court or anything but for a Kings franchise with some of the best existing colors (royal purple, baby blue, deep red) in its palette, this is underwhelming.

  1. Memphis Grizzlies (21)

I actually like this court better than last year’s, incorporating the lines on the baseline into the court, but the field this season is much stronger. Gray won’t cut it!

  1. Chicago Bulls (11)

The Bulls, after fielding a nice, deep red court last season, joined the morass of gray-for-no-reason courts. It’s admittedly the nicest of the tier — I especially like the center-court logo and Chicago flag stars — but the Bulls have so many better colors from which to pick.

Inoffensive, Could Be Better, Could Be Worse

  1. San Antonio Spurs (18)

San Antonio avoids the gray tier, since it’s a primary black and white team anyway. Still, I yearn for the year the Spurs base their court around the fiesta color scheme. 

  1. Los Angeles Clippers (13)

I’m docking points for the Clippers’ gigantic, ugly logo and the “Make Waves” slogan at the bottom. I’m sorry, it just does not work.

  1. Brooklyn Nets (19)

Brooklyn ran back effectively the same court as last season, swapping a Nets logo for the Brooklyn lettering at center court. The gray fits the Nets’ brand and the subway Helvetica adds a nice touch but there’s more potential here to unlock. I’m sure of it.

  1. Atlanta Hawks (29)

It’s a much-needed upgrade from last season’s highlighter yellow court. The deep red contrasts nicely with the gold NBA Cups and the Hawks logo strewn across the top of the court adds some visual interest without being too distracting.

  1. Detroit Pistons (30)

While this court isn’t anything special, it’s a massive upgrade on the comically large, thoughtlessly placed designs of last season. A lesson in simplicity.

  1. Los Angeles Lakers (7)

The Lakers were one of a few teams to abandon the bottom-court skyline design from last season and lose points because of it. They’re also one of the few teams where the more saturated yellow just works better.

A Nice Change Of Pace

  1. Indiana Pacers (15)

I’m partial to the Slick Leonard “BOOM BABY” reference, even if the text is a bit large for my taste. The bright yellow exterior and muted, dark blue court look great together.

  1. Orlando Magic (20)

Despite keeping the gray theme, the Magic did enough to bump their 2025 NBA Cup court up a tier. They improved the baseline fonts, added some intrigue to the out of bounds with the color shift and the center-court logo is cleaner. Fair enough, Orlando, though I still wish it were less gray.

  1. Houston Rockets (17)

Like many other teams did, the Rockets upgraded on an already solid formula. The white lines look even cleaner on the less-saturated red court.

  1. Toronto Raptors (3)

It’s a solid court with nice colors and detailing but where is the Raptors’ purple? The prehistoric theming? I worry the court may look too busy with players on it but Toronto’s color scheme carries its ranking, even if I’m unhappy with this relative to expectation.

  1. Dallas Mavericks (2)

I’m extremely disappointed in Dallas for abandoning the skyline at the bottom of last year’s court. I like that shade of blue enough to keep this court highly ranked but this should have been better.

  1. Cleveland Cavaliers (10)

This is effectively a repeat of last year’s court, with the same universal changes as the rest. Cleveland has an excellent color scheme and deployed it logically here.

  1. Minnesota Timberwolves  (14)

Minnesota kept the tree line at the bottom of the court and it looks even better this year with the updated shade of green.

  1. Phoenix Suns (16)

Phoenix’s more salmon-y orange compared to last season’s court meshes nicely with the black background, making for a pleasant viewing experience. I wish it had incorporated purple somewhere but this is a strong court.

  1. Washington Wizards (12)

Here’s a rare court upgraded by turning up the saturation (and balancing out the colors) on the floor. The hand and basketball logo blends even more smoothly than last year’s. I love this one.

  1. Philadelphia 76ers (8)

The only major change here (aside from the universal ones) is swapping blue for red on the out-of-bounds areas and it improved the court. It’s a pretty court to look at and is fitting for one of the NBA’s most storied franchises.

  1. Miami Heat (26)

No team benefited from desaturating its court as much as Miami, which turns a bright yellow eyesore into much more pleasant shades of yellow and orange. Those sunset-reminiscent colors make much more sense with Miami’s brand and it meshes with the deep red nicely.

  1. Milwaukee Bucks (5)

While I’m slightly disappointed the Bucks ditched their secondary blue, their primary shade of forest green looks excellent here. The green might mesh with the sideline details even better than the blue did previously.

Let’s Make These The Default Courts

  1. Portland Trail Blazers (4)

It’s gray for an amazing reason.

  1. Utah Jazz (23)

I’m unreasonably excited the Jazz were the only team to graduate from the gray tier last season, returning to form with their trademark royal purple. It’s a stunning court.

  1. Boston Celtics (8)

This is a strict upgrade on last year’s court. The deep green is a beautiful backdrop and the mosaic style benefits Boston as much as any other team. Look at all those lovely shades of green! I love it enough to bump it up a tier from last season.

  1. New York Knicks (6)

New York earns the second spot almost solely because it’s the only team to keep the skyline on its NBA Cup. It was such a unique feature for cities with iconic vistas and, for some reason, only the Knicks realized it. Swapping bright orange for a beautiful deep blue vaults this court over the top.

  1. Charlotte Hornets (1)

I really tried to pick another court to top this list but there wasn’t any other legitimate option. The Hornets improved on the top-ranked court last season, refining the teal and blue honeycombed floor. This is one of my all-time favorite NBA courts. 

Ben Pfeifer Written by Sports EditorBen Pfeifer
Ben Pfeifer graduated from the University of Missouri with degrees in Psychology and Journalism. He has worked in basketball scouting covering the NBA and the draft for over a half-decade, working for various outlets. Now, he covers the NBA, the draft and high school basketball.
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