NBC Sports Director Pierre Moossa Previews NBC's First NBA All-Star Production in 24 Years

After 24-year absence, NBC Sports returns to NBA All-Star Weekend with unique camera positions, all-access audio to capture the action at state-of-the art Intuit Dome

Stay tuned for plenty more SVG coverage from L.A. this weekend, but, to tip things off, SVG sat down with director Pierre Moossa to preview coverage of the NBA Rising Stars game, NBA All-Star Saturday Night, and NBA All-Star Game. Moossa, who began his career as a graphics operator on NBA on NBC in the 1990s, discusses the camera additions (including a lower game camera, 4X Steadicams, and SupraCam), army of player and coach mics, how the Milano Cortina Olympics lead-in affects his philosophy, and his goal to celebrate the NBA's biggest stars while making viewers at home feel as if they were courtside.

NBA on NBC director Pierre Moossa calling the action for NBA Rising Stars Friday night. What new camera positions are you working with this weekend for NBA All-Star coverage?

First thing is, our play-by-play camera is lower than usual, so that's going to give us a much more intimate angle. The NBA was kind enough to make that happen. Our play-by-play and our tight action camera will be lower than usual. Typically, the game camera is a bit higher at Intuit; this will give us a more intimate look that most people don't usually get to see. Obviously, it's such a special event, and we want to get as close to these star players as possible so it was important to us to give the viewer that perspective.

We've also added a SupraCam cable camera that's able to fly around the arena. We want to focus on some of the things that make the event special - the Dunk Contest comes to mind - so we made the SupraCam 4X super-mo. We have the ability to do replays that give people a really cool look at the dunks.

We also have two RF Steadicams. One is run by Matt Lingerfelt, who is in his ninth All-Star as the Steadicam operator for the Dunk Contest [and 12th overall]. We were at rehearsals last night till almost 11:30, and he's on his phone filming the dunks and studying them so he can determine the most impactful way to cover each dunk. He's a superstar camera operator, and the dunk is something that he covers very closely. The Steadicam is definitely the best way to look at the dunks, so we made that 4X super-mo as well.

There will also be a significant amount of 6X-super-mo cameras for all the coverage, which is always a big focus for us. We can get amazing replays all over the court.

There's a foul-line, extended reverse camera tight on the rim that's going to give us some great looks, especially for dunks: you can see that super-slo-mo view of the ball going through the rim and the hand coming over the rim and slamming it down. It's a spectacular look. The camera operator, Chris Cuby, has done this a lot. He did the same sort of camera last year for [TNT Sports], and I remember watching the coverage and thinking that was an amazing look. We're very happy to have him back to handle that.

Lastly, we have six iso cameras dedicated to our [player and coach] microphones. We have eight total player mics - two per team for all four teams - and we have coaches miked as well. We will have six people - four players and two coaches - miked at any given moment with a camera dedicated to each. On Sunday, we'll have eight people miked up for each game: both coaches and three players on each team playing. It's an opportunity to get some standout sound.

The miked-up segments have become an integral part of NBA coverage, especially at All-Star Weekend. How is NBC looking to evolve that effort even further?

What we're most excited about is that the NBA, the players, and the coaches have been kind enough to let us track some of the mics live. For Rising Stars tonight, we're able to track the player and coaches mics. The honorary coaches will be NBC talent Carmelo Anthony, Vince Carter, Tracy McGrady, and Austin Rivers; that will be really cool. We'll be on a five-second S&P delay to protect us for any language concerns, but we've got a lot of cool things planned on the audio side.

I think the most important thing in our coverage plan is that our goal is to celebrate the NBA and celebrate the stars. There's no greater celebration of the NBA stars than All-Star Weekend. It's our job to make sure it is an extremely fun experience for the viewer at home. We've always talked about bringing the audience closer to the action and make sure everyone at home has an even better seat than those front-row seats. With the mics, cameras, and unique angles we have, we're going to make sure fans at home appreciate how special this weekend is.

Any other big technology additions for All-Star?

One thing I'm really excited about is Courtside Live [on Peacock]. We're going to be [debuting] it for the first time at All-Star and I think it's going be a real hit with fans. We've positioned an ultra wide 4K camera right on the scorer's table and the goal is to give you that experience of sitting courtside. You might not be able to ever actually get a courtside seat, but now you can get that experiece by watching on your phone. And we'll also have that camera available for the traditional broadcast.

How does your approach to covering NBA All-Star Saturday change compared with a typical game broadcast?

I don't think my basic strategy changes much; it's still about showing the viewer what they need to see and tell the story of the game. My dad was a surgeon, and one of his biggest principles was no unnecessary cuts. I think it applies to television as well. There are many cool toys and angles and famous people to show, but you don't want lose focus of what the viewer needs to see.

For example, the 3-Point Contest is spectacular, and there are many

LINK:	https://www.sportsvideo.org/2026/02/13/nbc-sports-director-pierre-moos...
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