Nuggets will have new colorful court for In-Season Tournament

The Denver Nuggets are going all in on Mile High City branding, throwing “5280” on their new jerseys and the freshly painted court they’ll use for the NBA’s In-Season Tournament.

That competition kicks off with a regular season contest that counts as a group stage game on Friday in Denver against the Dallas Mavericks. The NBA on Monday released what the courts will look like for all of the league’s teams—flashing a bold scheme of colors for every arena.

The Nuggets will be playing on a blue court with a yellow stripe through the middle, while they rock black jerseys that are frankly pretty ugly. Those new jerseys make a bit more sense now that you can see how they’ll look on the new playing surface.

New look for the In-Season Tournament ⚒

It all starts Friday: https://t.co/wfxIb2cQb5 pic.twitter.com/r32Ze0Bmhi

— Denver Nuggets (@nuggets) October 30, 2023

The Nuggets, like the other NBA teams, will have the NBA Cup that they’re competing for on the middle of the court and a Cup-like strip thing down the lane in the paint. Some of the highlights from around the league feature the Suns playing on a purple court, Boston dropping the home parquet look, the Spurs and Raptors on dark colors and more.

NBA DEBUTS IN-SEASON TOURNAMENT COURTS FOR ALL 30 TEAMS pic.twitter.com/OHmOA8LYGL

— NBA (@NBA) October 30, 2023

The NBA has been using alternate courts for a few years now though some teams like Boston and Chicago had never tried it.

“The biggest decision was to paint the entire court with no wood showing,” Christopher Arena, the NBA’s head of on-court and brand partnerships told ESPN. “That was the ‘Wow.'”

The league wanted a bold look that would let fans know this is a tournament group-stage game and not just a regular season contest.

According to ESPN, the bulk of the court in one color linked to each team’s City Edition uniform, with one central strip the width of the in-the-key painted area running from baseline to baseline in another shade — meant to evoke an airport runway, and the idea that each group play game had the teams on their own runway to the tournament’s final four in Las Vegas. The league forced this template onto teams but gave them input into the color choices. The courts themselves are being rented—some are used college courts, and some are WNBA floors repainted.

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