Apple is bringing reside NBA video games to the Imaginative and prescient Professional in 2026

Apple is partnering with Spectrum SportsNet to stream choose Los Angeles Lakers video games on to the Apple Vision Pro throughout the 2025-2026 basketball season. The video games will likely be filmed within the Apple Immersive video format, the identical VR-friendly filming type the corporate used to seize the Metallica concert film it launched earlier this yr.

Past providing you with a cause to blow the mud off your $3,500 Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional, watching the video games in-headset will showcase “views unattainable to seize in conventional broadcasts,” Apple claims. Stay video games will likely be restricted to headset homeowners residing within the Lakers’ regional broadcast territory (Southern California, Hawaii and elements of southern Nevada) and can doubtless require a subscription to view, however Apple says the complete replays and highlights may also be accessible in “choose international locations and areas from each the SportsNet and NBA apps.” There isn’t any schedule of video games accessible but, however Apple and Spectrum say they will announce their ultimate plans this fall, with the primary video games streaming early 2026.

Whereas the final consensus on the Imaginative and prescient Professional is that it makes for an awesome media consumption machine, sports activities programming that takes benefit of its distinctive options has been largely lacking. Apple makes it straightforward to look at issues like Friday Evening Baseball and Main League Soccer, however the NBA is the one mainstream sports activities league making an attempt to supply an expertise that is particular to the Imaginative and prescient Professional. Past taking part in reside video games, the NBA visionOS app can show real-time participant stats, stream a number of video games without delay in multiview and present you a tabletop view of video games, full with a 3D courtroom and tiny gamers.

Now that Apple is reportedly prioritizing smart glasses over a lighter and cheaper version of the Vision Pro, the perfect factor the corporate can do is provide current homeowners with new issues to look at. Not everybody loves the Lakers, but when it opens the door to extra reside sports activities sooner or later, that is solely a great factor.