Do you have young children in your life? Replace with same. They may use it. No use for? Remove, then try easy garden. i.e. perennials. Like the easy garden? Couple years later ease in more exotic plants. Place another "hidden" patio set on brick area w/ large container plants [on casters!] to blend from garden to brick area.

Please keep in mind that anything that goes in needs to be drought resistant and not shed leaves/flowers.

Nothing you can plant bow will make much of a difference. Do the "pots with annuals" trick.

And I'd remove the concrete and hoop, replace it with matching gravel.

Yes, it will have to be pots, I do have a drip system there that I may be able to tap into to keep the plants watered. One of the odd things about AZ and growing things in the desert is that it is difficult to use pots made out of clay and other similar materials because the sun gets them too warm and it acts like an oven and bakes the plant. The insulated resin pots work the best. Does anyone have experience growing bamboo in pots in desert like regions? Maybe something like one of these?

Re. the broken slab ... the area seems more valuable with it (to me) than without. I think I'd design a joint pattern that allowed a clean cut removal of the chewed up portion and reinstall a big patch that made it whole again. A tidy looking patch would be better to me than a portion of dirt with a basketball goal at the end. You could also design the patch to be more minimal, compared to what is there now ... or cleanly cut out chewed up portion and leave the unbroken portion but not replace any concrete. Temporarily, mulch could go in the cavity. It could be relocated elsewhere if the new owner wanted to patch the slab back to larger.

I thought the same thing, but the Realtor really thinks it is an eyesore, and I've been told that it would be hard to salvage even half of it (the slab is about 30 years old and some tree roots really wreaked havoc with it, so the dirt underneath is no longer stable). The Realtor thinks that people will look at it and think of the money it will take to remove it.

I agree,,remove it and the hoop (new owners can put one in if they wish). replace w/the same rock. bring in some pots w/palm trees and cactus. colorful pots. that's it. don't over think it. new buyers will barely pay attention to it. as long as it's clean and neat, you're fine.

^^^what Beth said. Get rid of the bball court, cover it w/ gravel, and put your resources into making the the pool area even more inviting and let the buyer use their imagination for the rest of the yard. That's a huge space!