NBA Debuts Virtual Fans at Orlando Restart, and Social Media Has Thoughts

The NBA officially resumed the 2019-2020 season on Thursday. And while fans loved the fact the NBA [...]

By Brian Jones

The NBA officially resumed the 2019-2020 season on Thursday. And while fans loved the fact the NBA was back after a four-month hiatus, there was one thing that stood out more than anything else. When fans were watching the New Orleans Pelicans taking on the Utah Jazz, they saw fans in attendance. However, those fans weren't really at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida, as the league showed off its virtual fans for the first time in front of a national audience.

"It's just an interesting move to do," Los Angeles Lakers forward Kyle Kuzma said earlier this week via USA Today. "Especially if we can't have so you're just adding things to the game. But I'm not necessarily educated on it, so I got to learn more before I say something about it." For baseball, cardboard cutouts of photos of fans were placed inside stadiums since they are not allowed to attend games due to the coronavirus pandemic. The NBA took it a step further with the virtual fans, which led to social media asking a lot of questions. How does one become a virtual fan? Can you get kicked out if you're a little too wild? Could we see more virtual fans in the future?

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