The NBA is a little past the midway point of its 82-game regular season, meaning the 2024 NBA All-Star break is on the horizon.
This year, ASW falls between Feb. 16 and Feb. 18 in Indianapolis, IN, as both Lucas Oil Stadium (Friday and Saturday night All-Star festivities) and Gainbridge Fieldhouse (Sunday night All-Star Game) will play host to the weekend’s events.
Sunday night’s All-Star Game will return to its original roster format, ditching the team-captain approach they had taken over the last handful of years where the leading vote-getter from the Eastern and Western Conferences would serve as captains and compile their roster.
Along with the return of that wrinkle, several new ones will be introduced as well, such as a shooting competition between four-time NBA championship Stephen Curry and sharpshooting WNBA star Sabrina Ionescu.
Except for the All-Star game itself due to logistical reasons, all of the other events on the All-Star Weekend bill will be held on a state-of-the-art LED court designed by German company ASB GlassFloor that the NBA unveiled last week.
Fully customizable graphics, lines, animations, and effects will bring the court further to life and hopefully heighten fan engagement as well as enhance their viewing experience both in the arena and on television. In addition to the aforementioned custom capabilities, other features include: live replays and video content, real-time game stats, interactive games for fans during timeouts, and more.
This could be considered an extension of what the NBA introduced during its inaugural In-Season Tournament, which was held earlier this season. All 30 NBA teams had custom courts implemented for use in IST games, and the NBA specially tailored the court in both the semifinals and championship of the IST.
Carlton Myers, who is the NBA’s Head of Live Production & Entertainment, is thrilled about the court’s potential and the league’s willingness to experiment, hoping to shift what is typically showcased on the jumbotron to the actual floor itself.
“What we are doing with it and how we are using it is pretty groundbreaking, and pretty exciting for the fans. Things that would normally appear on a jumbotron will now appear on the floor alongside the live action. It’s essentially a huge television screen. So any graphics that you want, any design that you want, you can put it there.”
Myers also indicated that an LED court has been in the NBA’s scope for close to a decade, and technological advances have unlocked the opportunity to finally make it happen.
“Now the technology is there, and we feel really comfortable with it. Now is the time to do it.”
LED courts were utilized in the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup last July in Madrid, and that court was also designed by ASB GlassFloor. As stated previously, the LED court will not be featured in the All-Star Game on Sunday night due to logistical reasons as the size of an NBA court necessitated more LED tiles being created, but Myers is hopeful future ASGs will feature the court.
“With the All-Star Game being the marquee event across the weekend, I think if we have the ability in the future to do it, I think that we would.”
As is the case with standard courts, player safety is paramount with the NBA wanting to ensure that players remain blanketed by safety with the new LED courts.
“The most important part of this is making sure that the surface that the athletes are playing on is safe and has the right grip and the right viscosity. And all of these things that we test for on our maple floors, we also have tested for on this surface.”
ASB Glassfloor constructed a four-panel “mini-court” that was sculpted in the NBA’s office in Secaucus, New Jersey, and that mock-up was showcased to Brooklyn Nets players and other NBA personnel before rolling out on a larger scale.
Two layers of safety glass are stationed on top of the panels with LED lighting enveloping the court, with each one five millimeters thick. The opaque design of the court allows the LEDs to bleed through, and an etched surface peppered with ceramic dots provides the grip and friction that typical NBA courts contain.
Aluminum belts provide overarching support under the flooring system, so although different aesthetically, the feel of the court should be what players are already accustomed to.
“It is exact, if not extremely similar,” said Christopher Arena, the NBA’s Head of On-Court Brand Partnerships when speaking of the similarities between the LED court and the ones you typically see players competing on.
No one should expect the NBA to fully adopt this new LED court concept, as the turnaround time makes it nearly impossible for this to be executed in arenas where multiple teams share the space with their NBA counterparts. However, the league could look to utilize the court on special occasions, such as future All-Star Games or In-Season Tournament championships says Myers.
“If it’s an event, an In-Season Tournament, a game played overseas, a neutral-site type of thing, where we can control the beginning and the end, that’s probably more viable. There is huge potential for how we could use this floor in the future.”
