NBA Rankings: The 10 Best-Looking Court Designs in the League
By Editorial Staff
With the NBA regular season set to kick off next week, many people are setting their power rankings.
Most people are ranking the best teams, the best players, the candidates for Sixth Man of the Year, and so on. While I have never been a huge fan of power rankings, I thought it might be interesting to take a look at some of the best court designs.
There are a bunch of designs that are not exactly easy on the eyes. Some of the color combinations have to be questioned.
Of course some of them can’t really be helped, because of the team colors that they are associated with, but you have to wonder what some of these organizations were thinking about when they made these decisions.
Just missing the Top Ten in my list is the pictured court of the Utah Jazz. The Jazz still have the same logo, but went to some vintage colors this year. I’m not a fan of the new colors, and I think their old logo/color combination was perfect. If they would have kept it the same this year, they would easily be in the Top Ten.
Here are the 10 best looking courts this year. These are not ranked, just set in alphabetical order.
76ers
Absolutely love this one. The retro Sixers look is perfect. Can’t get much better than red, white, and blue. The classic logo at center court is perfect, and the light hard wood with the blue and red paint fits very well.
The white lines and white lettering at the baselines really makes this one easily one of the best in the league.
Blazers
Black and red looks good on anything. The Blazers have one of the best logos in the league, and they kept the middle of the paint the hardwood color, not to overdo the red.
The black lines and black out-of-bounds area really make this design sleek.
Bulls
While I’m not a huge fan of the basketball behind the Bulls’ head logo, it’s hard to leave this one out. The black out of bounds and red lines on the light hardwood make this one attractive.
Having a total of five Bulls head logos on the court may be a little much, though. Maybe replacing two of them with “Chicago” or “Bulls” would improve it. Losing the basketball at center court is also a must.
Hawks
One of the best logos in the NBA. Having it spread its wings at center court really makes this one take off. I really like the option of going with the blue lines and paint, with the same lettering out of bounds.
The light hardwood on the court, but I’m not too crazy about the dark wood color for the out of bounds.
Overall, it’s plain and simple, which is really what it’s about. The logo really makes it stand out, though.
Kings
Black and purple, a fantastic combination. They made a good choice of going with the “Kings” at center court, instead of the logo.
The purple lanes with black stripes on the outer side really make it stand out. The black out of bounds really adds to the coolness factor.
The Kings may not have one of the best teams this year, but the court will be looking good this year.
Knicks
Ahh, the Garden. As a Pacers fan, I hate to give them any credit, but this was also a place of many great memories for me, and Mr. Miller.
Any time you have Spike Lee and Reggie going back and forth, this image always seemed to be at the forefront.
The orange isn’t overwhelming, and the light blue really makes this all fit together. It’s almost impossible to leave this one off the list.
Magic
While I realize this is last year’s photo, and they just opened up a brand new state of the art arena in Orlando, they still have a great simple looking court design.
I’m especially glad they decided to get rid of the star as the “a” in Magic this year. Before (as above) it looked almost too cartoonish.
The simple color combination of black and blue really meshes together well with the light court design. Maybe making the three-point lines black would improve it a little, but it is still great as it is.
Mavericks
Who knew that using two different shades of blue could look so good? The mixture of light and dark blue really make this one appealing.
Of course, blue is the easiest color on the eyes, and they use the perfect amount of it here.
The logo looks fresh at center court, and the simplistic design of the light hardwood make this court one of the 10 best.
Nuggets
The Nuggets also do a good job of using their blue. Their powder blue and yellow is a nice combination; easy on the eyes and it meshes well.
While I’m not crazy about the logo at center court, everything else looks like it goes together well. Nothing too over the top, just the basics here will do just fine.
Rockets
The Rockets are one of a select few teams that really utilize the color red. Having too much red can make things difficult to look at, but they use just enough here to make it perfect.
Everything is either red or hardwood color, which keeps it simple. I’m not one for having two different shades of hardwood (inside the three-point arc, and outside of it) but it seems to fit here with only dealing with one other color.
The careful use of the color sets this apart from some of the other teams that are using red. They should all take lessons from Houston.