While there’s been no official confirmation from the NBA itself, an image dump on the file sharing website Imgur features a number of previously unpublished potential court designs, including some all-new aesthetics that fans can day dream about in the dog days of summer.
Chris Creamer of SportsLogos.net, one of the web’s foremost authorities on all things professional sport design, wrote about the leak and sheds light on some of the takeaways that he got out of the broad reveal.
Included in the uploaded images are certain court specs, revision notes and manufacturing companies.
While consistencies between these designs and previous reveals make it plausible that these courts will arrive on schedule in 2019-20, it’s important to note that until NBA teams start confirming them in their own official releases, they could also be concepts or abandoned altogether.
In the event that these designs do make their way to NBA stadiums when the season tips off, fans across the country are in for a treat. Below are some of the most notable designs from the leaked batch.
Los Angeles Clippers
While a more educated design aficionado would be able to drone on about the styling elements on display in this Clippers City Edition court, the fact that the franchise will start Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on a court seemingly pulled directly out of Grand Theft Auto makes my wallet hurt. Merch, please.
Toronto Raptors
Emboldened by their 2019 NBA championship, the Toronto Raptors are taking their moment in history to pay homage to the Barney theme that started it all. The Raps already brought back their original purple jerseys for their 20th anniversary in 2014-15 but this is a level of immersion that could only be made better if they found a way to simulate the famously tragic sight lines of the Skydome’s 500 level. Never forget.
Orlando Magic
One need not look all that far for Reddit posts about a mysterious orange juice-themed Orlando Magic jersey. We can’t confirm or deny anything based solely on this court leak but it could very well suggest that a new color could be arriving in the team’s palette this season. Are the Magic ready to usher out the Space Era and usher in… this? Is the entire court design leak just a vast conspiracy set afoot by a nefarious juice manufacturer and I’m playing right into their hands? Your guess is as good as mine.
Atlanta Hawks
The Atlanta Hawks have been one of the boldest NBA franchises when it comes to experimenting with different color schemes and this peach-themed court suggests that they’re not done yet. According to Creamer, the City Edition jerseys they rocked last year were gold because of the team’s 50th anniversary. If those will be pulled out of rotation for Year 51, a tie-in to Peach State’s presumed favorite fruit seems reasonable enough.
Cleveland Cavaliers
I’ve been talking about Shawn Kemp’s tenure in Cleveland for about a decade now and surely I’m not done yet but let’s look past that for a moment and consider the other legends from the pre-LeBron Era. This court, seemingly too good to be true, is an unsolicited tribute to Ricky Davis and Dajuan Wagner and is everything that I never knew I always wanted.
The Rest Of ‘Em
Take a look at the rest of the courts for yourself (h/t Redditor u/LakersWiz) but, again, remember that until the league and teams start officially revealing these designs themselves, there’s no guarantee they actually make it to the stadiums.
Let us know what you think right here in the comments or follow us on Twitter. You can follow me, Austin Kent, the SLAM mothership, our dudes over at SLAM Rewind or even just SLAM Newswire.