If you do not have thousands of dollars to burn, chances are you will not be courtside as the Cleveland Cavaliers and Golden State Warriors face off in the NBA Finals. But, if you have a VR headset, you are in luck. NextVR will produce and deliver highlights for every game of the series in virtual reality.
Following each slugfest between the NBA’s two best teams, you will be able to relive the biggest moments in VR. NextVR’s coverage of the NBA usually consists of views from courtside and under the basket. So, if Lebron James sends another Steph Curry layup into the nosebleed seats like he memorably did in last year’s Finals, you will get a closer look than anyone in the arena. The highlights will come with play-by-play commentary exclusive to the VR experience.
Over the last few years, NextVR has been a major part of bringing the NBA into virtual reality. For the 2016-2017 NBA season, the premiere company in VR sports production live streamed a game in VR every week. Even if you were not around a headset to get a free, virtual court side seat to an NBA game, NextVR has highlight packages compiling the best plays from numerous teams for the entire season available on its app. “After producing weekly live games, NBA All-Star coverage, and season highlights, the opportunity to deliver access to The Finals caps off an exciting 2016-17 season,” NextVR CEO and co-founder Dave Cole said.
This year’s Finals will be the first time the same two teams face off in the title game in three straight years and its getting the most VR coverage of any NBA Finals ever. The NBA, Oculus, and production company Missing Pieces will reunite to create a VR documentary of the historic series. The trio brought fans all-access to last year’s Finals matchup in the engaging documentary Follow My Lead. The documentary was so good it won a 2017 Sports Emmy Award for Outstanding Digital Innovation.
The NBA Finals’ game-by-game highlights will be available in the NBA Finals portal in the official NextVR app. The NextVR app is available on the Samsung Gear VR from the Oculus Store and Google Daydream View headset from Google Play.
The NBA Finals begin tonight, June 1, at 9 p.m. ET on ABC.
