The Orlando Magic will have their regular court in place for Tuesday’s NBA Cup game against the Miami Heat. Josh Robbins / The Athletic
ORLANDO, Fla. — One of the identifying elements to any NBA Cup game during the three years of the in-season tournament has been the court surfaces themselves: custom designs, often in garish colors, that feature a representation of the tournament trophy at center court.
However, you won’t see a custom court when the Orlando Magic host the Miami Heat in the opening quarterfinal game Tuesday night at the Kia Center.
The reason that the Magic’s NBA Cup court, which features gradients of gray and the franchise’s well-known stars, will not be used Tuesday is that it “was damaged in storage,” Magic chief communications officer Joel Glass told The Athletic. Glass added that team officials said enough damage occurred that they did not feel comfortable using the court tonight.
Instead, the Magic are using their usual primary home court, which debuted this season as part of an overall franchise rebrand.
An image of the Orlando Magic’s NBA Cup court. (Courtesy NBA)
The NBA Cup courts became newsworthy during the group stage of the tournament when Los Angeles Lakers superstar Luka Dončić complained that the Lakers’ yellow NBA Cup home court for its Nov. 25 group-stage game at Crypto.com Arena was “dangerous.”
“I slipped a lot of times,” Dončić said after that game. “And you could see a lot of players slipped. And that’s dangerous.”
The Lakers stopped using that court after those complaints.
