Red, yellow and blue have each taken their turn to no avail. The Nuggets might cycle through all the colors of the rainbow before they make it to an NBA Cup quarterfinal someday.
Those candy-colored novelty courts remain cursed in Denver. One of the winningest NBA teams of the decade hasn’t advanced past the group stage three years into the league’s in-season tournament, an invention that has introduced arbitrary but seemingly effective competitive stakes to November and December basketball. Knockout stage participants are rewarded with money from a prize pool. Eight teams make it that far every season.