MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN – NOVEMBER 12: A detailed view of the NBA Emirates Cup sign during a game between the Milwaukee Bucks and the Toronto Raptors at Fiserv Forum on November 12, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)
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With the 2025-26 NBA season officially underway, we are nearing the first major event of the NBA regular season: the 2025 Emirates NBA Cup.
Since these games take place in the middle of the regular season schedule, the NBA came up with a clever twist to make these matchups feel distinct and special. Instead of the normal visuals we see on the hardwood from a night-to-night basis, each team has custom courts for its home Cup games. Along with being incredibly bright, they are drastically different than the courts we normally see NBA games being played on.
On Friday, the league finally unveiled what these courts will look like.
NBA Unveils All 30 Courts For 2025 Emirates NBA Cup
It would be complicated and inconvenient to fit all 30 courts in a single article. Fortunately, NBA Insider Chris Haynes posted a cool video on X (formerly “Twitter”) that highlights all of them. Thanks, Chris.
All of the courts are designed to match their team’s primary colors. And all of them include the obligatory logo of their primary sponsor (remember, this is a business at the end of the day).
The team name is painted on the bottom portion of both names. In the center of each court is the NBA Cup trophy, along with the city where the team plays. On the sideline where the coaches and players are stationed, there is the NBA’s signature logo (Jerry West’s silhouette).
The main difference between all the courts (outside of the colors) is what they have on the sideline opposite the coaches and players. Some teams have their team name (i.e., the Utah Jazz). Others have cool little slogans. For instance, the Detroit Pistons’ court says, “In It For My City.” The Los Angeles Lakers have a star for each of their NBA titles. Meanwhile, the Boston Celtics have the number six – a tribute to franchise legend Bill Russell. A few teams decided to punt the idea altogether and left that portion of the floor blank. These little wrinkles are a nice little touch and probably my favorite part of the new courts.
How Does The NBA Cup Work?
This season marks the NBA’s third annual In-Season Tournament. The event originally started out being called the “NBA In-Season Tournament.” However, for business reasons (again), the matinee got re-named as the Emirates NBA Cup last season. It will continue to carry that title this go-around.
Anyway, the format is a multi-stage tournament beginning with group play, followed by single-elimination knockout rounds. In the group stage, all 30 teams will play four games (on designated “Cup Nights”), with the games taking place between October 31 and November 28. Since there are five teams in each group, these four games will be played against the four other teams in their cohort.
From there, eight teams advance to the knockout rounds. The eight teams that advance will be the six teams that win their groups and one wildcard team from each conference. The wild card will be the team from each conference with the best record in Group Play games that finished second in its group.
The knockout rounds work a lot like the NBA Playoffs. The four teams in each conference will battle against each other, and then the winner of each conference will face off for the NBA Cup Final. The only difference is that these will be single-elimination games rather than a best-of-seven series.
All games count toward each team’s regular season record, except the NBA Cup Final, which is not considered in the 82-game win-loss total of the two teams participating in it.
History Of The NBA Cup
So far, the two winners of the NBA Cup were older teams that featured future Hall of Famers. In 2023-24, the Lakers and LeBron James were the first ever In-Season Tournament Champions in NBA history. And last year, it was the Milwaukee Bucks and Giannis Antetokounmpo who took home the award. Unfortunately, this did not lead to postseason success, as both of those teams ended up being first round exits that season.
Funny enough, being the team that loses the NBA Cup Final is usually a better sign for long-term success. The Indiana Pacers lost to the Lakers in 2023-24, but they ended up making it all the way to the Eastern Conference Finals (and the NBA Finals in the following season). And last year, it was the eventual NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder that fell to the Bucks in the NBA Cup Final.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/matissa/2025/10/24/a-look-at-all-30-custom-courts-for-the-2025-emirates-nba-cup/
