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2025 NBA Finals: ESPN, NBA mocked for adding digital trophies to broadcast due to Larry O'Brien logo backlash

On3 imageby: Sam Gillenwater06/09/25samdg_33
Larry O'Brien Trophy (NBA Finals)
Matthew Emmons | Imagn Images

The NBA Finals has recently received more criticism for going away from the large, on-court logo for the title series that featured the Larry O’Brien Trophy. However, in an attempt to fix that for Game 2, the NBA and ESPN/ABC may have made it that much worse.

The 2025 NBA Finals, featuring the Indiana Pacers and Oklahoma City Thunder, started on Thursday with Indy taking a 1-0 lead with a 111-110 win in OKC. Game 2 on Sunday has now revealed a pair of smaller versions of the trophy digitally added onto the court following the fallout of the design still not in use this postseason.

Social media, though, has taken notice and only come harder at the NBA. The topic, which is trending on Twitter/X, has led to several memes and jokes at their expense this evening for the apathetic attempt to please fans who were asking for it after Game 1. Here are a few of the examples:

As the first half went, the NBA may have taken notice of the online reaction. The logos went away over the course of the second quarter with a Finals logo paired with the presenting sponsor of YouTubeTV.

The NBA has used fewer and fewer actual on-court decals over recent years with concerns for player safety as they’d said they were reportedly ‘slippery’ to play on. That’s led to the removal of the Larry O’Brien as well as the script logo of The Finals among others.

Still, after Game 1, the outcry was back again against the NBA. Many felt that the game and the broadcast didn’t feel like part of a series that would determine the association’s championship.

In response, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver admitted that they may reconsider the designs coming back for the 2026 NBA Finals. That came per Sam Amick at The Athletic at a charity event for NBA Cares in Oklahoma City.

“To be honest, I hadn’t thought all that much about it until I (saw) it (on social media). I’m nostalgic, as well, for certain things. And also, I think for a media-driven culture, whether it’s people watching live or seeing those images on social media, it’s nice when you’re looking back on highlights and they stand out because you see that trophy logo or some other indication that it’s a special event,” Silver said. “So, we’ll look at it.”

Credit to the NBA for the thought in trying to correct what some fans feel is a big loss from the feeling of The Finals. Still, with this effort of it, the internet did what it does and only joked about them even more on the timeline.