Even though they didn’t win the NBA championship last season, the Los Angeles Lakers still came away with some hardware by winning the league’s inaugural In-Season Tournament.
This year, the In-Season Tournament is back, although it has been rebranded to the Emirates NBA Cup. A lot of the rules and format are the same, so the Lakers know the road they will need to take in order to defend their title.
It won’t be easy as the Lakers are in a group with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz and San Antonio Spurs. One team will advance through group play into the knockout rounds with the potential for a wild card team to advance as well.
Similar to last year, group play games will be played in home arenas with teams wearing their City Connect uniforms, which were recently leaked.
Additionally, the home courts will look different than usual, which will signal to fans that their are watching an NBA Cup game. The courts were met with a lot of criticism last year with them being super colorful, but it appears the league has made some changes.
The Lakers’ Emirates NBA Cup home court was recently released and it looks different than a year ago, via Lakers Uni Tracker:
LEAKED: Lakers floor for the Emirates NBA Cup (In-Season Tournament) which begins in mid-Nov
A gold court which features the skyline of downtown Los Angeles with the stars on the lower sideline representing the Laker championships
Big upgrade from last year#LakeShow pic.twitter.com/KmvVv2qDoG
— Lakers Uni Tracker (@LakersUT) September 19, 2024
The biggest change from last season is that the purple stripe that went down the middle of the court has been removed. It instead is a gold court that features the downtown L.A. skyline with the stars on the lower sideline representing the Lakers’ championships.
Given that the colors don’t stick out the way they did in 2023, fans will likely be happy with the changes the league made to the NBA Cup home courts although opinions can always change in November when everyone actually sees them for games.
Lakers in West Group B for Emirates NBA Cup
As previously state, the NBA will be doing its In-Season Tournament again, although they have renamed it the Emirates NBA Cup.
The Lakers are looking to defend their title and were placed in West Group B.
Each team will play four group stage games on ‘Cup Nights’ taking place on Tuesdays and Fridays between Nov. 12 and Dec. 3, as is reflected on the Lakers’ schedule.
The quarterfinals of the Emirates NBA Cup will take place on Dec. 10 and 11 with the semifinals and finals once again happening at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Dec. 14 and 17, respectively.
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