"Cancun vibes": NBA fans troll new Clippers' basketball court ahead of upcoming season
The LA Clippers opened their new home, the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, California, on Thursday and also unveiled their "City Edition" court, which created a lot of buzz among NBA fans on social media.
The new arena, built at a cost of $2 billion, will serve as the home venue of the Clippers after they left the Crypto.com Arena, which was shared between their cross-town rivals, the Lakers for the last two decades.
The new arena boasts state-of-the-art amenities and a refreshed look, including for the City Edition, which has earthy color tones punctuated by a big "LA" logo and an orchid-type plant in midcourt.
Fans immediately picked up on the design of the new court and shared their differing takes on it.
One fan trolled the Clippers for the court design with its "Cancun vibes," which does not speak well for the team as it is a reference to making an early exit during the competition.
Another user chimed in, saying, "Tropical ahh court. They already getting ready for cancun."
One, meanwhile, was graphic in his comment, saying, "[Trash bin emoji] just the like the team, it's fitting actually."
Then there were others who were down with the design but had some suggestions to "improve" it, particularly removing the flower at midcourt.
"That court would be insane without the flower," a user wrote.
A fan, meanwhile, was brief and direct with his comment, saying, "Flowers?"
Still another from one, "Remove the flower and you got it."
Some fans, meanwhile, simply liked it, with one user writing, "Damnn that's really cool."
"I actually like it," a fan wrote in support of the design."
The LA Clippers finished with a 51-31 record last season, good for fourth place in the Western Conference. They, however, were upended by eventual conference champions the Dallas Mavericks in the opening round of the playoffs in six games.
NBA excited over new Clippers arena
The NBA is excited to see the LA Clippers build a new home arena, which officially opened on Thursday in Inglewood, California.
Speaking about the Intuit Dome earlier this year, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was thrilled to see how Clippers owner Steve Ballmer has put a lot of thought in the construction of the arena and was quite impressed.
The league official said by way of ESPN:
"I've seen pretty much every major arena in the world at this point, 32 years in the NBA. And this is unlike anything I've ever seen. It starts with the fact that Steve Ballmer chose to build a basketball-centric arena... [Also] He's one of the world's great technologists, and he brought all that learning [to this arena]..."
The Intuit Dome is designed to become a must-see venue for basketball with an acre-wide double-sided halo board. Even before construction was finished, it was already selected to host the NBA All-Star Game in 2026.