What looked like basketball sci-fi a short time ago is now getting real traction in Orlando, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are the latest team to jump in.
The Cavs have become the first NBA team to fully commit to ASB GlassFloor, the company behind a high-tech glass court that can turn a practice floor into a live data screen. Cleveland plans to work out at ASB’s Athletes Lab in Orlando and also add a glass court to its future practice facility.
For the uninitiated, ASB GlassFloor is built around a simple but wild idea: the court itself becomes the display. A coach can sketch a play on a touch screen, and that setup can show up on the floor.
A player can look at shot charts mapped directly onto exact spots on the court. Coaches can upload a whole playbook into an interface that isn’t just for storage, but for running practice, altering actions, and bringing things up on the fly in the exact places they’re meant to happen.
The company has already earned attention from names like Vince Carter and Angel Reese, but Cleveland is the first NBA team to go all in.
ASB’s 35,000-square-foot Athletes Lab in Orlando sits near the Kia Center, and it’s become a showcase for what the technology can do. The facility includes a full-LED glass basketball court that can change its look instantly, flash interactive graphics, and display real-time performance data. It’s also expected to host many visiting NBA teams throughout the 2026-27 season, with all teams facing the Magic invited to try it out.
The NBA itself is invested in the future here, too. The league is a strategic investor in ASB GlassFloor and continues to evaluate what the technology could mean for professional basketball courts down the road.
Standing on the court makes the pitch easier to understand. ASB builds it from panels with wiring underneath and glass on top, and swapping out one panel reportedly takes an average of 4.5 minutes. The company says its research shows the surface is just as safe as any other court, and it has also taken player and coach feedback into account on things like traction and how the floor feels when athletes run and cut.
The possibilities stretch beyond practice, of course. A logo could sit in one corner.
A full-court animation could move from end to end. In theory, the graphics could become part of the game itself, with different stages or novelty ideas - even something like a moving 4pt shot, as has already happened before with the NBA.
For teams and college programs, the appeal is obvious. Every play drawn, every shot taken, every action in the book can be tied to exact court coordinates. Instead of guessing where a play should land or how a shot chart translates to the floor, players and coaches can see the spots and movement in a much more immediate way, with interactive visuals built to support development.
With the Cavaliers visiting the Magic Tuesday night, they’re also getting a first-hand look at a setup that could shape how elite basketball programs train next. The bigger question now is not whether the idea works. It’s how fast the rest of the sport follows.
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For a team built around two high-end young forwards, the next step is less about talent than how all the pieces actually work together night to night. Wagner and Banchero remain the franchises foundation, but the pressure now is on Orlando to turn promise into something more sustainable, especially after a year in which their growth came with plenty of interruptions. The early returns under Sweeney do not answer every question, but they do make this a fascinating moment for a team trying to find out what its core looks like when the games start counting. [Read more 🡒]
Magic Have A Real Chance To Smash Their Recent Ceiling
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Sean Sweeneys arrival adds another layer to that equation, because the Magics next step is going to require more than just growth from its core. A cleaner offense and better 3-point shooting have become the obvious pressure points, and if those areas come around, Orlando has a real chance to move beyond its recent ceiling and force a much more favorable seeding conversation in the conference. [Read more 🡒]