The NBA Will Have An LED Court For All-Star Saturday Night And The Celebrity Game

The NBA world will descend on Indianapolis, Indiana in two weeks for All-Star Weekend, where the NBA’s best will get to showcase their talents across the three days of events.

The festivities will be split between the Gainbridge Fieldhouse, where the Rising Stars Challenge and All-Star Game itself will be played, and Lucas Oil Stadium, where the Celebrity Game and All-Star Saturday Night competitions will be held. The court for the actual game competitions at Gainbridge Fieldhouse will be your typical courts, but the Celeb Game and Saturday Night festivities will be played on an LED court that the NBA unveiled on Monday afternoon.

Given that each competition on Saturday Night has different branding elements, the Celeb Game features a 4-point shot line, and the Stephen Curry vs. Sabrina Ionescu three-point shootout will include the WNBA three-point line, it makes sense that the league would look to an alternative to putting a ton of different lines of paint on a court. The LED court will allow them to change the look of the court between competitions — along with some animations when things happen — without needing to build a new court between Friday and Saturday or bring out as much physical branding between competitions.

The hope is this makes for a bit smoother Saturday night of competitions, as the setup will just be the various elements of each competition, and we’ll just have to see if the visual elements of the LED court translate to TV in the way the league hopes. That, along with player feedback on the feel of the court, may very well determine if the league explores expanding the use of this type of court to actual gameplay, but for now it will just be for the Celeb Game and Saturday Night competitions.

Source: https://uproxx.com/dimemag/nba-all-star-led-court-saturday-night-celebrity-game/