Basketball NBA NBA Summer League Thomas & Mack Center

NBA Pushing Technology Frontier With Tech Expo, Launchpad Demo Event During NBA Summer League In Las Vegas

July 13, 2026July 13, 2026 Alan Snel Adam Silver, Jaylen Brown, Jewell Loyd

By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher-Writer

LAS VEGAS, Nevada — Kevin Gehsmann was chatting about his company, PROTECT3D, Monday when he politely ended our talk and moved into networking mode when a Houston Rockets trainer came by to learn about his company’s product.

Gehsmann, the 30-year-old co-founder and CEO of the company that makes protective face masks for basketball players, was among 35 companies showing products at the NBA Tech Expo at the NBA Summer League on the UNLV campus.

His display tables showed color photos of NBA players like Jaylen Brown wearing PROTECT3D’s protective mask. The Las Vegas Aces’ Jewell Loyd wore the mask during games last season.

The tech expo was the NBA’s own mini-CES show, a collection of young technology companies showing advances in everything from coaching tools and protective equipment to biomechanics and tracking.

The 35 companies set up displays inside a practice gym next to Thomas & Mack Center, with staffers and execs seeking to network with NBA team trainers and even league workers.

Five of the 35 were lucky enough to be chosen by the NBA for its annual “Launchpad” tech program after more than 200 companies applied for the honor and the NBA support. Through five years, the NBA has picked 27 startups with innovative tech ideas that have been put into motion with NBA teams and other sports.

The five companies for 2026 gave demo presentations at a Launchpad event at the NBA Summer League Monday evening. Here are the five:

The five gathered at a Thomas & Mack Center meeting room, where company reps gave presentations, networked and chatted with visitors.

A former Launchpad winner was BetterGuards, a high-tech ankle brace company that has grown in revenues by ten times since the Launchpad experience, said Tony Verutti, CEO of the New York-based company. Verutti noted players on all 30 NBA teams used the BetterGuards brace.

“It was important for the journey,” Verutti said of the NBA Launchpad recognition in 2023. “It helped unlock our potential.” Below is one of the 110 employees at BetterGuards showing the ankle brace product.

PSA

Alan Snel

Alan Snel brings decades of sports-business reporting experience to LVSportsBiz.com. Snel covered the business side of sports for the South Florida (Fort Lauderdale) Sun-Sentinel, the Tampa Tribune and Las Vegas Review-Journal. As a city hall beat reporter, Snel also covered stadium deals in Denver and Seattle. In 2000, Snel launched a sport-business website for FoxSports.com called FoxSportsBiz.com. After reporting sports-business for the RJ, Snel wrote hard-hitting stories on the Raiders stadium for the Desert Companion magazine in Las Vegas and The Nevada Independent. Snel is also one of the top bicycle advocates in the country.

July 5, 2021

Alan Snel, veteran journalist and LVSportsBiz.com publisher. ASnel@LVSportsBiz.com.

LVSPORTSBIZ.COM, launched June 2017: We are a digital magazine providing market-leading news, intelligence, enterprise and breaking news on Las Vegas’ sports/stadium industry. Our stories are quoted nationally and we set the sportsbiz news agenda in Las Vegas. Publisher Alan Snel has reported on the business of sports and stadiums in Denver, South Florida, New York, Seattle and Tampa besides Las Vegas and is considered a national authority on the topic.

Click here for Alan’s recent appearance on KNPR radio in Las Vegas.

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BRIEFS

Another day, another NBA arena idea in Las Vegas: During a quarterly earnings report call, VICI Properties execs said they’re teaming up with Caesars Entertainment on an idea to build an NBA arena behind three hotel-casinos in the center of the Strip just north of Flamingo Road.

The Thrill is back: The pro women’s volleyball team, the Thrill, was out of business last year but a press release says the Thrill has a new local owner and a new coach and details will be reveled at a Monday presser. The Las Vegas Thrill of Major League Volleyball used to play at the Lee Family Forum in Henderson.

Union deal at Allegiant Stadium: The Culinary Union announces tentative agreement on union contract reached with Oak View Group for 730+ cooks, servers, bartenders, & concessions workers at Raiders-run Allegiant Stadium.

F1 Las Vegas Grand Prix, Sphere extend deal: F1, Sphere announces new five-year agreement that extends their partnership through 2030, with Las Vegas Grand Prix utilizing Sphere’s exterior campus each year during race week.

The F1 track as it nears the Sphere. Photo credit: Hugh Byrne/LVSportsBiz.com

UNLV’s sports conference — the Mountain West — has a new slogan and “refreshed brand identity.” Built Bold is the “new defining tagline.”

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LVSportsBiz.com coverage of Athletics stadium project on Strip in Las Vegas.

A’s owner John Fisher in Las Vegas

New A’s team president Marc Badain

Marc Badain

LVCVA spends $8.25 million on A’s sponsorship

Big League Sports With Small Town Politics

Man of Many Hats

Athletics’ long, strange journey for new ballpark

How Deal Was Made For A’s Ballpark On Strip

May 24, 2021

LVSportsBiz.com Publisher Alan Snel is a nationally-known bicycle rights leader and bicycle travel writer.

Alan focuses on reducing road violence and has asked government to enforce road safety laws, design better roads for bicyclists and walkers not just motorists, educate drivers, install more penalties for reckless motorists and lower speed limits.

Here are Alan’s travel story samples, literary adventures based on Alan’s expansive and curious approach to reporting sports-business news and a bicycle life:

Let’s Pedal Zion National Park

Bicycling Bristlecone Trail At 9,000 Feet

Biking magical Seattle and the Northwest

Bicycling the Tour de Stadiums of Las Vegas

Las Vegas bicyclist struck by bullet during memorial ride

Incomparable Grand Canyon by bike

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LVSportsBiz.com Publisher Alan Snel has also written two books: Long Road Back To Las Vegas and Bicycle Man. Purchase Long Road Back To Las Vegas on Amazon and contact Alan to buy Bicycle Man at asnel@LVSportsBiz.com.