The NBA Finals are basketball's biggest stage, and for a while now, the championship series has had a court fit for the occasion.
After decades of on-court sticker custom, the NBA had a short-lived tradition of placing a giant Larry O'Brien Trophy sticker in center court under the home team's logo during Finals games. This was a stark reminder of what was at stake in the Finals and helped set the game apart from other playoff matchups.
So why are the decals gone, and is the NBA doing something special on the court in the Finals?
Here's what you need to know ahead of the 2024 NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and Dallas Mavericks.
When did the NBA start using on-court decals in the NBA Finals?
The NBA has created a separate logo for each year's Finals since 1986. The original template was used for 10 years before the league updated the design in 1996. There have been several iterations since then, with the NBA bringing back a version of its iconic cursive Finals font in 2022.
Regarding decals, the 1989 Finals, when the Detroit Pistons and Los Angeles Lakers faced off, saw the first on-court decal displaying the logo of that year's Finals. The NBA maintained this practice until 2004, when it made significant changes.
When did the trophy logo start appearing on half court at the NBA Finals?
During the 2005 NBA Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and the Detroit Pistons, a giant Larry O'Brien Trophy sticker was first featured at half court.
The league brought the decal back for the next four Finals, the last time it was used was in 2009, when the Lakers defeated the Orlando Magic.
What did the NBA do after they took the sticker off the trophy during the Finals?
From 2010 to 2014, the NBA reverted to small on-court decals displaying the Finals logo.
Since then, the court has seen few changes: The Cavaliers incorporated two on-court decals into the trophy during the 2017 NBA Finals, and a special half-court logo was also displayed inside the Orlando bubble during the 2020 NBA Finals when the Lakers defeated the Miami Heat.
The 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 and 2023 NBA Finals did not feature decals of any kind, except those overlaid for television audiences.
Why did the NBA remove the decals during the playoffs?
Player safety was the main concern when removing the stickers from the court.
The NBA followed in the NCAA's footsteps and decided to remove decals and stickers from its courts in 2012, mandating that all courts have a “consistent surface.”
“Many factors were considered in making this decision, including player safety,” an NBA spokesperson told The Cauldron in 2014. “The decision to remove the playoff logos from the courts was made for a variety of reasons, including venue cleaning.”
Will the half-court trophy logo appear in the 2024 NBA Finals?
The league brought back the half-court trophy logo for the 2023-24 season, but not for the NBA Finals.
For the first-ever NBA in-season tournament, all 30 teams had unique courts, all painted different colors with colorful stripes down the center from baseline to baseline, and an NBA Cup sticker in the center of the court.
The league also prepared special blue and red courts for the semifinals and finals of a mid-season tournament held in Las Vegas.
But the league did not change its stance on the court for the NBA Finals, which begin Thursday night at TD Garden in Boston.
