[Vardon] One day after Lakers star Luka Dončić narrowly avoids serious injury, NBA and Cavs agree to look for solutions to Cleveland’s unique, potentially dangerous court design
From Joe Vardon, the Athletic:
The NBA and Cleveland Cavaliers will meet to discuss changes to the unique, arguably dangerous court design inside Rocket Arena after Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Dončić narrowly avoided serious injury on Wednesday night, The Athletic has learned.
“While improvements have been made to the arena floor over the years to address this issue, the NBA and the Cavaliers are revisiting the situation given the incident last night,” a league spokesperson said Thursday night.
Dončić is questionable for the Lakers’ game in Washington on Friday with left ankle soreness after he fell off the side of Cleveland’s court, which is about 10 inches above the rubber mat covering the hockey rink inside Rocket Arena. The Cavs have the only “raised” court in the NBA, with a gap between the floor and the ice, that is dangerous because the “floor” seats are positioned on the rubber covering the ice — which creates the opening Dončić fell into.
On Thursday, the Lakers became at least the second visiting team to formally complain to the league, following the Miami Heat’s complaint in November 2023. Then, Dru Smith landed awkwardly in that same gap and sprained a ligament in his right knee, costing him the rest of his season. There have been no other known injuries suffered due to the gap in the 31 years of games at the arena.
The Cavs, the NBA and the players’ association also understand that fixing the court to remove the gap is not necessarily an easy exercise, in no small part because it was designed and built in the early 1990s. The Cavs could theoretically reduce the size of the wood blocks upon which the court sits, add small ramps (rubber, likely, for forgiveness) from the court to the hockey rink to mitigate the drop, and put sturdier cup holders onto the floor seats since the fans would lose the natural border protection of the floor gap for their beverages.
Cleveland could widen the court, likely more expensive than the above option, and put the floor seats on top of it. Or, they could get rid of the box under the court altogether, but make sure the building stays cold enough to keep the ice from melting.
Other potential fixes might exist, along with accompanying complications. The fix may also be hard to implement during the season, which for the Cavs could last deep into the playoffs.