When the Portland Trail Blazers go on road trips, they bring their own supply of Sad lights for the visiting locker room.

The lights are named for what they are designed to counteract: Seasonal Affective Disorder, a depression-adjacent condition brought by a dearth of exposure to natural sunlight. The Blazers' traveling lights are roughly 2-foot by 3-foot rectangles facing out in the middle of their locker room on the road.

“The happy lights,” said Mason Plumlee.

The Blazers have long installed Sad lights within the ceilings of their Moda Center home locker room and above their practice facility court. “Our practice simulates the lighting at an arena,” Terry Stotts said. 

“I think it wakes you up,” Lillard said. “I feel like it brings a certain type of energy to the locker room and it’s become a part of our preparation now.”

“We try and have the lights in the locker room at least as bright as the arena” Stotts said. “So that when you come into the locker room at halftime, the lights don’t bring you down.”