After players—including Luka Doncic—expressed concerns about the slipperiness of the L.A. Lakers Emirates NBA Cup court after their game versus the L.A. Clippers on Nov. 25, the Lakers used their usual "Core" court for their Nov. 28 Cup game against the Dallas Mavericks.
Most of the 30 NBA teams now have three courts: their “Core” court, with simpler, classic designs; the “City” court, with some larger-than-life graphics and different colors than their usual branding; and the “Cup” court, completely painted, which is used for games that count toward the NBA's in-season tournament, called the Emirates NBA Cup.
Starting last season, the NBA standardized its courts: All new regular season courts are Robbins Sports Surfaces courts, all finishes are from Bona US, and all the sanding, painting and coating of the courts is managed by Praters Flooring.
“We take player safety seriously, and many players expressed concern with this court. There were several unexplained slips during Tuesday nights game. We pulled the court out of an abundance of caution," Mark Frainie, owner at Praters Flooring, told WFB. "We plan to evaluate the court further to understand the issue. We will apply new finish coats and return a court the players will be confident on should it be needed for a future game.”
"That was bad. I felt it right away when I was warming up," Lakers forward Rui Hachimura told ESPN about the Tuesday game. "It just felt weird. Just like oily, slippery. Everybody was on the floor, literally."
This is the third season of the NBA in-season tournament and its all-paint courts. In the first year, there were some player complaints (including from Luka Doncic) about the courts being slippery—although they were coated with the same finish as the other courts. There were no complaints last year.
This year's Cup courts were again designed by artist Victor Solomon. They feature fully-painted gradient designs, personalized overlays for each team, and hidden details for the two previous NBA Cup champions.
The 2025 Emirates NBA Cup courts were again designed by artist Victor Solomon.NBA
The Cup games began on Oct. 31. The tournament will culminate at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for its semifinals and championship, which will be played Dec. 16.
