When Lakers guard Luka Doncic slipped off the edge of the floor at Rocket Arena after a fadeaway 3-pointer during a game against the Cavs on Wednesday, Jan. 28, the brief injury scare did more than stop play.
It also put the spotlight back on the Cavaliers’ unusual court design — the NBA’s only playing surface with a 10-inch drop-off between the court and the arena floor.
While Doncic was able to return to the game, the first-quarter play echoed concerns raised in 2023, when Miami Heat guard Dru Smith suffered a season-ending ACL sprain after slipping off the edge of the court.
“It is, in my view, profoundly problematic as a design feature,” Benjamin Flowers, an Ohio State University architecture professor who specializes in sports and arena design, told Crain's. “As a sports architect, your primary concern is the health, safety, and welfare of the athletes. And as a club owner, you have to recognize that your most valuable asset is your players."
Rocket Arena isn’t the only U.S. facility with a raised court. Many venues that host NCAA Final Fours use elevated playing surfaces and Cleveland’s old Richfield Coliseum had a similar setup.
The Cavaliers noted that the court setup meets all NBA standards.
"The basketball court layout and design at Rocket Arena is fully compliant with NBA rules and has been in place for [20-plus] years, with ongoing collaboration and regular evaluation between our organization, the league and independent flooring experts to support player safety and performance," a Cavaliers spokesman said in an email to Crain's. "We constantly evaluate every aspect of the arena to ensure the highest standards of fan experience are achieved and safest environment for players, team members, performers and guests is maintained."
Rocket Arena opened in 1994 as a basketball-first building, but was retrofitted for professional hockey in 2007 when the then-Lake Erie Monsters began playing there. Most modern arenas that host both basketball and hockey are designed for both sports from the outset.
Rather than excavating the arena floor to accommodate the ice, the venue uses a raised, floating basketball court installed over the hockey infrastructure, creating the drop. Several teams have asked the NBA to review the Cavaliers’ elevated court in the past, and Flowers said the players’ union could also push for changes if those concerns continue.
“I think everyone would prefer that this not become a bargaining or negotiating issue,” Flowers said. “It would make more sense for ownership to resolve it on their own, because it’s in their long-term financial interests not to turn this into a sticking point that doesn’t need to exist. ... From a business perspective, it’s a design choice that puts your most valuable assets at risk."
Compared with other major leagues, the NBA takes a middle-ground approach to arena design — far less stringent than the NFL, but more regulated than Major League Baseball, Flowers said. But meeting league standards is not the same as following best practices, he said.
“It seems to me like the kind of thing the Cavaliers would want to fix,” Flowers said. “The seats right up against the court line are worth a reasonable amount of money, and you could solve this problem by just raising that floating floor by a few feet in width. You’d have a much safer situation."
The Lakers agree, with coach JJ Redick and Doncic both raising concerns publicly after Wednesday’s game, and LeBron James previously calling on the league to address the issue. (The NBA did not respond to an interview request.)
Wednesday’s court situation drew attention from several national media outlets — including ESPN, which broadcast the game, as well as the Los Angeles Times and The New York Times, among others.
Although Gateway owns the arena, it is managed by Rock Entertainment Group, which would be responsible for covering the cost of a major floor modification.
Flowers didn't want to estimate how much that might cost, but said it's far less than a star player's salary. Doncic is making about $46 million this season, about the same as what the Cavaliers pay Evan Mobley and Donovan Mitchell.
“It would definitely cost less to solve the floor drop-off issue than it would to sign a replacement for Evan Mobley or Donovan Mitchell — or Doncic, obviously — if they got seriously injured because of it,” Flowers said.