Victor Wembanyama and his teammates will be in the spotlight at Christmas. The Spurs will challenge the Knicks on December 25 during the traditional NBA Christmas Day, and Mickey and his friends will also be there.
What if Victor Wembanyama played with Mickey? After traveling to the world of Hayao Miyazaki via his “faceless” costume on Halloween, Wemby could dress up as Mickey or Pluto. This is not quite the case yet, but the idea is close.
Last night, ESPN, the American television channel which broadcasts the NBA, announced that the meeting between the San Antonio Spurs and the New York Knicks, which will take place on December 25 during NBA Christmas Day, will be broadcast live and simultaneously in a cartoon version with iconic Disney characters.
Slam dunk! @DisneyESPN & the @NBA team up to ‘Dunk the Halls’ with Mickey & Friends this Christmas
1st-ever real-time, animated NBA game
@spurs vs @nyknicksMain Street, USA | Magic Kingdom Park
Dec. 25 | Noon ET | ESPN2, Disney+, ESPN+
https://t.co/j3es0eYnW2 pic.twitter.com/hlWEWPZFRS
— ESPN PR (@ESPNPR) November 20, 2024
Concretely, this event called “Dunk the Halls” will use cutting-edge “Hawk-Eye” technology to model the players of the two teams, Victor Wembanyama in the lead, as Disney characters, all in real time. The actions and movements of each player will be reproduced identically by Mickey and his friends. Which represents a real technical feat.
The meeting will be broadcast on different channels. In a “classic” format on ABC and ESPN, the usual channels holding TV rights, and in an animated format on ESPN2, ESPN+ and, of course, Disney+.
A first in the NBA
While the match will take place at the legendary Madison Square Garden between the two teams, its animated version will come to life in a virtual version of Main Street USA, the famous avenue at the entrance to the Disney World theme park in Orlando (Florida). Fans were also promised to regularly see famous Disney landscapes, such as Cinderella’s Castle, during the encounter.
When the Spurs play the Knicks on Christmas day, each Spurs and Knicks player will appear as a motion-enabled, animated player for their special Christmas matchup. Through state-of-the-art real-time visualization technology.
The festive special, dubbed “Dunk the Halls,” will… pic.twitter.com/6fai8k1XXd
— SpursRΞPORT (@SpursReporter) November 21, 2024
If this is a great first for the NBA, it is not the first time that ESPN and Disney have joined forces to offer this type of content to its subscribers. In 2023, for example, the American channel broadcast the NFL match between the Atlanta Falcons and the Jacksonville Jaguars in version Toy Story.
All that remains is for die-hard NBA and Disney fans to wait patiently until December 25 to receive their best Christmas gift.
