Luka Dončić briefly exited Wednesday’s game against the Cleveland Cavaliers with an ankle injury after falling off the elevated court at Rocket Arena, raising questions about whether change to the court in Cleveland is needed.
The Cavs play on the only raised court in the NBA, with a roughly 10-inch difference between the court and the arena floor. The court has been elevated since the arena opened in 1994, with the reason being that the venue is also home to the Cleveland Monsters, the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Blue Jackets.
The ice the Monsters play on rests below the arena floor, with the elevated basketball surface meant to provide added protection to it. That said, Rocket Arena is far from the only arena with both professional basketball and ice hockey. Madison Square Garden, Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles, and Chicago’s United Center all house teams in both sports, yet none of the arenas feature layouts similar to Cleveland’s.
Lakers head coach JJ Redick expressed his frustrations after the team’s 129–99 loss, arguing that change to the Cavs’ court is needed in his post-game press conference.
“It is absolutely a safety hazard,” he said. “I don’t know why it is still like that. I don’t.”
Dončić is not the first player to get injured on the Rocket Arena court. Miami Heat guard Dru Smith tore his ACL in 2023 falling off the surface. The Heat contacted the NBA at the time to express concerns about the court, but nothing came of it.
The Lakers guard said after the game that he immediately thought of Smith when he fell. “That’s why I got scared,” he said. He also noted that he looked back at the video of the injury and feels he got “lucky.”
LeBron James, Dončić’s teammate and longtime Cavalier, spoke about the safety of the court back in 2023 after Smith’s injury. “Yes, the league should look at it,” James said. “They should address it.”
Elevated courts are seen more in college basketball, with Minnesota and Vanderbilt both playing on raised floors. While there have been no documented serious injuries as a result of the court at either arena, players have fallen off the surface, including Indiana’s Josh Newkirk at Minnesota in 2017. The Final Four court is elevated as well, because it improves visibility for fans in the large stadiums the games are played in.
The NBA, Lakers, and Cavaliers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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