How the bold new NBA in-season tournament courts came to fruition - ESPN

About seven months ago — when the NBA was optimistic its long-dreamed-of in-season tournament would finally become reality — the league's creative brain trust began tinkering with a big question: How could they make sure fans would know instantly they were watching a group stage game?

Sure, the league could work with broadcast partners so that scoreboards would alert viewers that the game was part of the tournament. That was easy. But those words and markings are small and might fade from the viewer's consciousness fast.

Around April, they started thinking about the basketball court itself. Officials proposed special decals on the floor and boundaries, similar to the ones it uses for the NBA Finals and All-Star Game — only these might read «Group A» or «Group B,» perhaps alongside a rendering of the trophy the tournament winners would eventually get. Others suggested the teams might warm up in new shooting shirts used only for tournament games.

Around mid-July, they took those ideas to senior leadership, including commissioner Adam Silver. The feedback — with Silver perhaps the loudest voice — was clear, said Christopher Arena, the NBA's head of on-court and brand partnerships: «More, more, more — bigger and bolder.»

Soon after, a combination of Silver, other senior leaders and the league's creative services group started kicking around a bigger idea: What if we painted the entire court? And what if we did it for all 30 teams, using the same general template?

«The biggest decision was to paint the entire court with no wood showing,» Arena told ESPN. «That was the 'Wow.'»

By late July, they had settled on that template: The bulk of the court in one color linked to each team's City Edition uniform, with one central strip