We do not yet know, officially at least, if the NBA will return to France in 2025. There is no doubt that its bosses have known this for a long time. They must project themselves into the future, like their colleagues, like Wilson. The sports equipment manufacturer has been supplying official NBA balls since 2021. It was its first supplier, from 1946 to 1983, before Spalding took its place. At NBA House, a space open to the public in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris on the sidelines of the match at the Accor Arena between Cleveland and Brooklyn on Thursday (8 p.m.), Wilson shared his 3D printed basketball prototype.
“The goal is to bring innovation to sports,” says Kevin Murphy, vice president of team sports at Wilson Sporting Goods, philosophically. This unique model has the particularity of not having to inflate. And therefore not being able to deflate. “For all equipment manufacturers, the biggest problem in designing a balloon is that it must retain air,” explains Kevin Murphy. We must find the same performance in each ball. What if we could eliminate that variable?”
Wilson has been working on it “for 5-6 years” according to Murphy. The main negative feedback professional basketball players give about balls is “the lack of consistency,” he explains. If the player feels that the ball is new, and therefore different from the previous one, it is not okay. “It makes a big difference for us when the ball is not already a little worn,” complained Washington Wizards shooter Davis Bertans when he discovered Wilson balls in 2021.
With this new concept, once the right formula has been found on the computer, all we have to do is turn on the 3D printer to accumulate balloons “which will last and perform longer,” Murphy hopes. Finding the formula, however, turns out to be a “very complicated and very technical” process, for what remains a prototype a year after its first public appearance. Kenyon Martin Jr, player of the Houston Rockets, used it during the dunk contest on the sidelines of the All-Star Game on February 18, 2023. A relative success, as the sample is tiny.
“We want an NBA player to want to play with it, and not just for a pick-up game (a training match or between friends),” says Kevin Murphy. The ambition is displayed. You still have to pass the crash test. We manipulated this famous prototype for a few minutes. The visual is jarring at first glance. Transparent, this new ball is made of synthetic materials with a very different feel from the usual rubber.
The first sensation is strange: with its dark color and metallic appearance, you expect the ball to crash to the ground with a loud crash. The fact that it bounced as well as a traditional ball gave us the impression of a lack of gravity, as if we were dribbling on the moon. The sphere passes from one hand to the other, bouncing on the ground in the middle, with fluidity. Size and weight are similar to that of a usual ball. The material nevertheless seems more solid and, even if you never want to take a rubber ball in the face, you would want to take this one even less. Beware of bad passes from teammates.
Another major factor, perhaps the most important, is grip. The grooves identical to a classic balloon and the hundreds of small holes that make up the prototype offer a satisfactory result, but which remains disturbing. Lack of reference points, no doubt. When Wilson returned to the NBA in 2021, star guard Bradley Beal complained that the word “Wilson” was “not raised like the word ‘Spalding’ was.” “But as you use it, it’s pretty much the same, you just have to get used to it,” he added. “After the first part of the season, we no longer heard” any complaints, rightly emphasizes Kevin Murphy.
A few minutes do not allow us to decide on the lifespan that we are promised tenfold, even if the resistance does indeed seem to be reinforced. Last remark, anecdotal for the moment: the full black color does not offer the best visibility in the heat of the action, for players and spectators. But color is expensive to print, Wilson doesn’t want to waste ink on a prototype. The equipment manufacturer continues to collect feedback from NBA and university players. He plans to show his product to the world again around the All-Star Game on February 18. For marketing and an introduction on professional parquet floors, we still have to wait.
