The NBA has introduced a new AR feature for its Vision Pro app this week called Tabletop, which places a floating render of a basketball court in your space during “select” live games, according to an NBA help page describing the feature. On the court, digital avatars mirror the game’s actual players as they move, pass, and shoot — but only for live games that you can watch or listen to with NBA League Pass.
The feature even works for local market games that are otherwise unavailable to stream video of in the app. It was about 45 seconds behind the announcer audio during a local game I tested it with, but Vision Pro owner Justin Ryan reported about a half-second delay after using a toolbar option to sync with the live feed. The feature wasn’t available for any out-of-market games when I tested, so I only had an audio feed to compare with.
Each player has the same avatar (shown as either a robot or with a cell-shaded cartoon style), but you can still differentiate by the color of their jerseys and the names and numbers emblazoned on them. Their name is also placed above their head when they have the ball. The NBA didn’t immediately respond when I asked whether the feature will be available for this weekend’s NBA All-Star events. Here’s a screen recording of the feature from my own Vision Pro, followed by a timestamped link to the same moment from a highlights reel the NBA posted after the game:
The feature is reminiscent of what the Lapz Vision Pro app did for Formula 1 races before it was shut down by F1 itself. If you subscribe to NBA League Pass and have a Vision Pro, look for a new Tabletop button next to the usual “Watch Live” and “Multiview” buttons in the NBA app.
Tabletop was surprisingly polished for an alpha feature when I tried it out. The NBA has shown off mixed reality tech it’s experimenting with in the past, such as the above presentation from NBA commissioner Adam Silver in which he demonstrates using a 3D scan of sports commentator Ahmad Rashad to replace a player in an in-game clip.
