IN PHOTOS: All NBA In-Season Tournament fancy courts unveiled for Day 1 of group stage games

The NBA In-Season Tournament starts tonight and fans are curious to see how well it will play out. As part of the celebration of the tournament, teams have made custom basketball courts to honor the new in-season format. The courts have been revealed and let's take a look at the photos that were shared on X (formerly Twitter) by NBA on ESPN.

There will be seven games tonight to tip off the group stage.

The Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, Denver Nuggets, Milwaukee Bucks, Oklahoma City Thunder, and Miami Heat will all be the first teams to host the in-season tournament. The home teams will also wear the new NBA City Edition jerseys tonight.

The NBA In-Season Tournament will have a huge prize money for the champions. The team that wins the championship will earn $500,000 and the second-placed team will get $200,000.

The losers in the semifinals will still get a chance to earn a monetary reward amounting to $100,000. Losers in the quarterfinals will earn $50,000.

You might also be interested in reading this: Anthony Davis and Draymond Green feature in NBA In-Season Tournament campaign 'The Heist': Full cast and more explored

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What the NBA wants out of the In-Season Tournament

The idea of having an in-season tournament was started by David Stern, who was league commissioner from 1984 to 2014. It didn't gain any movement until Adam Silver took over in 2014. The league had the idea of having the In-Season Tournament to gain the status of Wimbledon or an FA Cup.

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"We think, and taking nothing away whatsoever from the Larry O’Brien Trophy and the ultimate goal of winning a championship," Silver said. "That you can create another competition within the season that becomes meaningful."

"As the saying goes, new traditions aren’t created overnight. This will need to build over time."

Fans were divided when the in-season tournament was announced. But most are still curious to see the ultimate outcome of the new feature. NBA star Tyrese Haliburton added another aspect the league could implement in the new tournament.

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"I think the greatest incentive for everybody to do it would be an automatic playoff bid. If it was a playoff spot, I think everyone would take it very, very serious, right? I think the older teams would take it serious," Haliburton said.

It's not a terrible idea, but it could be a push to make the season more competitive.

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