Hardwood floors gleam and reflect the hoops that hang overhead, and a massive scoreboard is mounted on the wall. But this basketball court’s blonde bleachers are small, enough for a handful of spectators, and its extra sideline space houses a kitchenette.
Instead of stadium surroundings you might find at the NBA Finals, the famed postseason finale that starts Thursday with the Oklahoma City Thunder hosting the Indiana Pacers, the suburban Philadelphia court’s wood-framed French doors and windows look out onto a grassy yard. The space looks professional, and it’s just one of the ways basketball lovers are bringing the sport home while putting their own twists on the designs.
Across the country, architects and equipment designers are upping their game, taking into consideration how athletic facilities best fit in with how homeowners want to use them. While basketball is popular, some installers offer the ability to customize a court for a different sport such as pickleball. And for home hoopers who value style above function, there's specialty gear available that could be hung in an art gallery.
Steven Bolinger, a project architect with West Chester, Pennsylvania-based Archer & Buchanan Architecture, helped design the court with the mini bleachers, and he has fielded a growing number of requests for residential sports courts and gyms over the past five years. Often, he said, the commissions don’t come from professional athletes, they’re from “high-net-worth” people who want to “build a facility for their own use and their friends.”
“The pandemic did very much so incentivize clients to go out and build their own workout space,” Bolinger said. “The home gym is popular, it’s back in demand.”
When that gym takes the form of a full-size basketball court, he noted, the “specialty room” presents architects with an array of design challenges, starting with the form.
On the outside, form has more to do with blending the court into its surroundings “because that’s what the neighbors see,” along with local zoning officials, Bolinger said. To keep an indoor court from hulking over the rest of the home, architects can dig the building into the ground so it’s scaled more like a barn because “you’re only seeing half the height of the building,” he said. “It’s not gigantically tall compared to the rest of the residence.”
Structural requirements tend to bear the brunt of the project’s cost, which can vary wildly depending on a court’s scale and finishes. Ceilings for a full-sized court need to be quite high, with any pendant lights hovering at least 24 feet above the playing surface.
Architects also need to consider HVAC because the systems move a lot of air through the cavernous spaces to heat and cool them.
“That challenge becomes even greater if you want a wood floor, which in basketball they usually want,” Bolinger noted. Just like hardwood floors in a home, a court needs care, “so there’s a built-in cost to keep that building at a consistent temperature and humidity level so that the floor doesn’t move, expand, shrink, or crack.”
Mark Peterson, founder of the Edina, Minnesota-based design-build firm MA Peterson, has also completed projects that involved a basketball court, or a general sport court, over the course of his nearly 50-year career.
He knows that when a homeowner considers adding a basketball court inside their home, it’s almost always more of a want than a need. “You’re not going to justify buying a sports court with logic,” Peterson said. “You have to justify it by other means.”
Often, Peterson sees those means as social, with the basketball courts becoming spaces where parents can spend time with their children, fostering relationships with their neighbors and friends.
“The people we built [these courts] for just rave about them,” Peterson recalled. “There is a good reason for that because they bought time with their family.”
An outdoor court installed in less than an hour
For those who want to replicate games played in parks and public courts — purists who feel the position of the sun and bite of the wind are crucial elements — an outdoor court can be built without the hassle of installing an asphalt blacktop.
Companies such as VersaCourt in Dalton, Georgia, can design and construct a customized gaming space from interlocking polypropylene tiles.
“Your court is installed in less than an hour,” said Delanie Nelson with The Recreational Group, a conglomeration of sport accessory businesses that owns VersaCourt. “And it’s a little easier on your joints than asphalt.”
Using plastic allows for full customization. Customers can get the regulation lines for multiple sports to easily switch between, say, basketball and pickleball. Beyond just lines, customers can also get their favorite team logos or other personalized images on the court.
The breathable plastic also lets water drain off faster for quicker playability after a storm. And the whole court is recyclable.
The court does need a hard base; it can’t be assembled directly on grass, for example. But one doesn’t need to lay a concrete foundation. Companies such as Ultra Base (also based in Dalton) make a tile foundation that can be laid with minimal preparation, meaning no need for construction permits.
The 10-inch-by-10-inch tiles come in 3-by-3 sections, labeled with numbers that a homeowner can assemble themselves. “You put it together like a puzzle,” Nelson said.
A half-court setup will run between $5,000 and $10,000, with a full court ranging from $13,000 to $30,000, depending on the quality and customization. Adding game lines averages around $500 for each sport that’s included.
While it is difficult to know how much an investment like this might raise a property’s value, Nelson said its real value will be immediately apparent to the neighborhood.
“This is about having fun. It’s how we make your house the one that everybody loves.”
At the intersection of sport and style
Thousands of dollars could also get a homeowner a single custom backboard and hoop.
Los Angeles-based artist Jerrett Ellis of Hoop Dream Studios sells custom basketball hoops — both of the decorative and functional variety — anywhere from $300 up to the thousands for custom work, like a 600-pound backboard using imported French Nero marble with a rose gold hoop, finished with an elaborate black frame.
It depends on the materials used, functionality requests, size, and, of course, time. Ellis made one hoop while pursuing his fine arts degree, and his fifth sale, to a vintage shop in Los Angeles, caught the eye of rapper Rich the Kid. Ellis said the demand for Hoop Dream Studios' works has “snowballed” since.
He’s created pieces for brand collaborations with the Dallas Mavericks, Modelo, Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets, Under Armour, several artists, and for celebrities such as Justin and Hailey Bieber and Travis Kelce.
For the Biebers, Ellis spent months creating a white epoxy full-sized backboard and hand-cut leather for the net, which hangs in the celebrity couple’s living room. Kelce purchased an infinity mirror hoop that creates an illusion of endlessness by pairing a mirrored backboard with lights.
The demand for the stylish, design-forward pieces came as a surprise to Ellis, who has played basketball since childhood.
“The basketball hoop is such a staple and holds a lot of memories and emotions for people,” Ellis said. He treats each piece like a piece of sculpture or furniture. They become “intimate and expressive, which people are able to identify with,” he said.
Hoop Dream Studios pieces began as strictly decorative, but it’s hard to fight the urge to dunk on a hoop affixed to a wall, noted Ellis, and said he’s seen increases in requests for fully functional hoops. Most stay inside, in living rooms, man caves, or kids’ rooms.
The demand has grown to a nationwide retail opportunity, with Ellis collaborating with the estate of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, for his works to be sold in museums and retail stores this summer.
Online retailer OmoiBox started selling handmade wooden and customizable backboards about four years ago, costing $1,250 to $2,550. Rather than nail a classic Fiberglas backboard and hoop to a home's exterior or plant it next to the driveway, homeowners are drawn to these next-level pieces as a way to show their personality and adhere to their home's aesthetic.
The rise in demand for these works likely comes from an intersection between the sport, culture, and shifting home design trends. Sport and culture have a longstanding connection that’s been fueled by an entirely individual style.
“Because of the internet and social media, we’re able to see what shoes Ja Morant is wearing, but we also care about what Ja Morant is wearing off the court, which has become something really big,” said Ellis. “Even not in the NBA, courts in different neighborhoods have different styles. … My hoops are a reflection of a deeper identity.”
In homes today, that identity is becoming more desired. Color-drenched interiors, dark colors, statement-making wallpapers, and artisan handmade touches are all hot draws for homeowners sick of the once popular farmhouse styles or all-neutral interiors, say designers.
"We've had several customers send us photos of their homes so we can design a backboard that complements their space. In some cases, we even build custom mounting systems," said Janice Ban, co-founder of OmoiBox.