By Miguel Rapetti
05 Feb 2024, 20:29 PM EST
The NBA, in its desire to continue revolutionizing both basketball and sports, presented this Monday the impressive Crystal court that will be installed at the Lucas Oil Stadium for the All-Star Weeknd that will be held from February 16 to 18 in Indianapolis. .
An announcement by NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, as well as NBA Senior Vice President Carlton Myers, showed the operation of the giant screen that is expected to be part of the skills contest, the dunk competition, the triples tournament and the special confrontation, also of triples, of the Golden State Warriors star, Stephen Curry, and his counterpart from Liberty City in the WNBA, Sabrina Ionescu.
“It gives us a little more variety in what we can do as far as interactive graphics, reactionary graphics happening on the court, changing the floor layout, changing the colors, really reacting to the play happening on the court. So we feel very, very good about the capabilities that this offers us, what it gives us. And we think it’s going to have a great impact, both in the building and on television,” Myers said about it.
The main functionality of the Cristal LED will be to offer live statistics of the event, visual effects, replays and even interactive games in which fans present in the pavilion can take part. It is even said that its use could replace screens hanging from the ceiling in the future.
The “giant television” was developed by the German company ASB GlassFloor and it is not the first time that it will be used in the world, although it will be the first time that it will be seen on an NBA court.
Previously, during the FIBA U19 Women’s Basketball World Cup, which was held in Madrid, Spain, this screen court was used during some games in the final phase of the event, with positive results in its execution.
Regarding its specifications, it has 756 meters covered by two layers of safety glass, 5 millimeters thick, and since 2022 it has been approved by FIBA for use from 2022.
The main doubt regarding its execution was whether it could have consequences on the players’ joints or the way the ball bounced, as well as the elasticity necessary for its professional use, but all doubts were clarified and in a positive way, both by the president of the National Basketball Players Association, Andre Iguodala, as well as by Joe Dumars, vice president of operations.
“How does it feel? Does it have traction? Does it have elasticity? Those were the questions that immediately came to mind when hearing about this course. And they were answered to our satisfaction,” commented Dumars in a press conference held on Monday.
The Crystal LED screen will be the second experiment that the best basketball in the world has with the playing court, after what could be seen with the special designs that the teams made during the NBA In-Season Tournament that debuted this season.
Watch the video of the giant screen working here:
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