Fans just got a first look at the Celtics' newest court

One week from today, the Boston Celtics will square off against the Philadelphia 76ers to open up their group play in the Emirates NBA Cup. The Cup was first introduced in 2023, serving as a way for the league to add some extra stakes to early-season matchups.

Though actually winning the competition doesn’t hold much weight, the games themselves add some flair to November basketball, most notably with the special NBA Cup courts. These unique floor designs stray away from traditional hardwood coloring and are painted to coincide with each team’s colors.

Boston’s design, along with all 29 other teams’, was released this afternoon. Here’s a look:

The floor will look nearly identical to last Cup season, featuring green-colored parquet, black borders, and white court lines. The main difference is that the center-court logo will read “Boston” in white letters, rather than “Celtics” in black font.

Of course, it wouldn’t be an NBA Cup court without the trophy itself being plastered all over it.

The Celtics have a new NBA Cup court

These wonky floor designs have come a long way. The inaugural competition had this weird runway pattern that just looked plain ugly. My personal favorite part about the entire thing is the league’s reasoning behind having Cup Courts.

They want to be sure that fans instantly know that they’re watching an NBA Cup game as soon as they turn on the TV. Sure, that makes sense, but this is overkill, don’t you think? Maybe just having the trophy as part of the normal mid-court design would do the trick.

Instead, the viewer essentially experiences their own version of the “Kramer, what’s going on in there?” meme.

Again, the Cs will tip off their group play against the Sixers on Halloween. Then, they’ll make their way around the rest of the East’s Group B when they face off against the Orlando Magic on November 7, the Brooklyn Nets on November 21, and the Detroit Pistons on November 26.

Here’s the full slate with times and broadcast networks included:

• Oct. 31, 7 p.m. ET, at Philadelphia (Amazon Prime)
• Nov. 7, 7 p.m. ET at Orlando
• Nov. 21, 7:30 p.m. ET vs. Brooklyn
• Nov. 26, 5 p.m. ET vs. Detroit (ESPN)

In order for Boston to advance to the knockout stage of the competition, they’ll have to either record the best record in their group or the best record of all non-group-winners. If two or more teams are tied in the win column, then the tie-breaker is first decided by head-to-head results, and then by point differential.