NBA In-Season Tournament: 76ers' New Court, Joel Embiid’s Thoughts

What does Joel Embiid think of the NBA's In-Season Tournament?

The NBA wanted to spice up the 2023-2024 season and offer the league a fresh idea with an In-Season Tournament.

Although the tournament has been discussed for the last few years now, the NBA is finally rolling it out this year, and they’ll do more than just place teams in a group stage, along with sending the most competitive squads out to Las Vegas the bracket phase.

On Monday morning, the NBA announced that each team would feature a new-look court during tournament play. Each court was revealed, showing designs that ditch the prototypical hardwood look and focus heavily on colors that pop.

For the Sixers, they’ll play on a red court, which features a dark blue strip in the middle, along with white lining. The color scheme goes hand-in-hand with the team’s 2023-2024 City Edition theme.

In the middle of the court is an alternative 76ers logo, along with the In-Season Tournament trophy, matching the rest of the league.

76ers’ In-Season Court

A look at the Sixers’ court for the new In-Season Tournament, per NBA pic.twitter.com/bwxBohdgV9

— Justin Grasso (@JGrasso_) October 30, 2023

What Does Joel Embiid Think?

The In-Season Tournament is still sinking in for most players. Since it’s a new idea that moves away from the typical 82-game season with an All-Star break in the middle before moving to the playoffs, players such as Sixers star Joel Embiid seem to be intrigued yet reserved with their excitement.

“I’m not sure,” Embiid said in regards to the tournament on Monday. “I think it could be good. We’ve gotten used to Larry O’Brien being the main trophy that everybody wants. It’s gonna take a little adjusting to kind of figure out that something else is also as important as something as maybe as the main trophy. It’s always been about the Larry O’Brien.”

The NBA tweaked its format in 2020 during the league’s COVID-19 reset in Orlando, Florida. Following the one-time seeding games to conclude the regular season officially, the league implemented a Play-In Tournament for the final two seeds in each conference. 

Although the idea initially received pushback, the results of the tournament led the NBA to keep it around beyond 2020, and it’s still in place today. Now, the NBA is hopeful the In-Season Tournament carries the same excitement.

“It’s another chance to compete,” Embiid added. “It’s all about winning every single game. Not really focused on the In-Season Tournament — more focused about just winning every single game — wherever that takes us based on that cup, then you have a chance to compete for more and win.”

Players' and teams’ hunger to win the NBA Finals likely won’t fade with another trophy entering the conversation. While that idea might take some of the juice out of the tournament overall, the competitive mentality that Embiid and most professional players have could prevent the tournament from looking like a bunch of players who are forced to compete in the tournament rather than guys having a motivated mindset and wanting to win even if the stakes don’t seem as high.

“I treat every game as the same — the angle is always to win — it’s nothing different,” Embiid finished. “The tournament is all about winning. Whether there’s a tournament or a regular season game, it’s still the same goal. You try to win as many games as possible, try to make the playoffs, and try to go on a run.”

The 76ers begin their group play for the tournament on Friday, November 10, on the road against the Detroit Pistons. Philly’s new-look court will be debuted on Tuesday, November 14, in a matchup against the Indiana Pacers.