From Courts to Screens: Fans Roast NB-AI’s Movie Magic!

The NBA has long been at the forefront of sports innovation, but their latest concept might be pushing the boundaries too far! During the NBA All-Star Tech Summit in Indy, Adam Silver and Victor Wembanyama introduced NB-AI, allowing fans to activate “movie mode” using their voice, transforming a live NBA game into their favorite film. Silver and Wembanyama showed an example, adding a Pacers vs. Jazz game footage Spider-Man: Across the Spiderverse theme.

Although the technology does look promising, and it could bring a new and more immersive feel to the NBA, fans panned the idea on Twitter/X. Many fans were perplexed at the NBA for unveiling this but not looking to improve the NBA League Pass feature.

“Nobody asked for this. literally all we want is league pass without local market blackouts,” @chisportsross tweeted.

@mollyhannahm agreed, posting:

“us: hey guys can we maybe make league pass less glitchy

the NBA: wanna see draymond green turn into the green goblin mid-game”

@BrysonWright3 posted, “We really getting “movie mode” before local games on league pass?

The social media commentators have a great point about NBA League Pass. Many of the posts reference the “black out restriction”. The NBA describes the blackout restriction as, ” “blackout restrictions include your local NBA team(s) and all nationally televised games. Blacked-out games will be available for viewing after the game has concluded.”

The blackout restrictions, however, aren’t limited to only NBA League Pass as NBA TV games that show your home team will also be blacked out on any cable, satellite, or streaming TV provider you use. The restriction is meant to direct fans to local affiliates to watch the team in their area.

Per many of the NBA fans weighing in on NB-AI, they should focus on their existing technology and work to improve it and a great starting point just might be amending the blackout restriction.