All-Star Weekend has finally arrived, and it’s bigger than it’s ever been. There’s the game itself, the ever-expanding All-Star Saturday with the dunk contest and the celebrity game and so on, and there’s the Rising Stars game on Friday night. But before any of those on-court happenings get started, the NBA has a unique opportunity to gather more people associated with the NBA than at any other point during the season. Once commissioner Adam Silver had them all together, he used that opportunity to show off the NBA’s shiniest new toy: holograms!
That’s James Naismith, inventor of basketball, stepping out of a sepia-toned photo frame to brag about inventing the game in a Vine posted to the NBA’s account. The voice sounds like it could be character actor J.K. Simmons, rather than The Simpsons character Naismith actually sounded like, but the technology is still impressive. The hologram reportedly carried on a back-and-forth conversation with Commissioner Silver.
As for how the NBA plans to use this technology, Silver envisions a plan for creating holograms of players with which fans can interact:
Future technology like virtual reality, Adam Silver says, will let fans high five a player, and "drive home with him after the game."
— Henry Abbott (@TrueHoop) February 12, 2016
Little kids could be able to have a little pocket-LeBron to yell at when he misses the game-winning shot! It should be a healthy outlet for them.
The future is going to be weird.
