The NBA heard you.
During Game 1 of last season’s NBA Finals, complaints quickly arose online that there was nothing on the court in Oklahoma City to identify it as a Finals game — it looked exactly like the court from a Tuesday night game in January. Why is there no logo of the Larry O’Brien trophy? Why no NBA Finals script logo? How can the NBA have special courts and designs to signify an NBA Cup game in November and not have anything on the court in June for the Finals?
When the NBA Finals roll around next June, there will be a Larry O’Brien trophy logo at center court and Finals script logo as well, a [story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN](https://x.com/ShamsCharania/status/1981068206275228152). This will be the first time since 2014 that the NBA’s championship trophy will be represented on the court (and the first time since 2009 at center court). NBA Commissioner Adam Silver mentioned this possibility [during last season’s Finals](https://www.nbcsports.com/nba/news/adam-silver-says-larry-obrien-trophy-logo-could-return-to-nba-finals-court-in-2026).
When the NBA put logos on the court in the 2000s, they were decal logos placed on top of the court. This led to player complaints that they were slippery — especially when sweat got on them — and that they were going to lead to injury. The league made its move away from those logos for player safety.
The issue seemed to die there until complaints rose on social media during the last Finals. The league and broadcast partner ABC tried to adjust by superimposing computer logos on the court — they appeared on the broadcast but were not visible in the arena —but that was a short-term fix at best.
Since painting a court and applying multiple layers of polyurethane finish — which aids in player traction, protects the wood, and gives the court a shine under arena and television lights — takes time, it’s not yet known exactly how the league plans to pull this off.
But there will be logos on the court next June — and that’s a good thing. The NBA Finals needs to feel like an event.
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