The NBA’s Vision Pro App Brings Miniature Basketball to Your Table

The NBA has introduced a new augmented reality (AR) feature for Apple’s Vision Pro headset, letting League Pass subscribers turn select live games into interactive 3D dioramas. Dubbed "Tabletop," the feature projects a miniature, floating basketball court into your space, complete with digital avatars that mirror the real-time actions of players. This means you can watch plays unfold as if they were happening right on your coffee table—minus the sweaty jerseys. The avatars aren’t exact player likenesses, but they wear team-colored jerseys with names and numbers to help with recognition.

While the Tabletop feature is impressive, it’s not without limitations. It only works for certain live games and is not yet available for out-of-market matchups. There’s also a small delay—around 45 seconds behind live commentary in one test, though some users found a sync option that reduced the lag to about half a second. Compared to past AR sports experiments (like the now-defunct Lapz Vision Pro app for F1), this implementation seems relatively polished for an early-stage feature.

For now, Tabletop is an experimental add-on, but it signals where the NBA might be headed with mixed reality. The league has already dabbled in immersive tech, previously showing off a 3D-scanned version of Ahmad Rashad inserted into game footage. If this AR experience evolves, it could redefine how fans engage with live sports—maybe even making traditional 2D broadcasts feel a little outdated.

Read more at The Verge.