The NBA has officially hit a quarter-century milestone with its Tech Summit, and guess what? It’s back where it all began, the Bay Area. Who would’ve thought, right?

Flashback to the year 2000 when the All-Star weekend graced our tech-savvy neighborhood for the first time. It was the dawn of the internet, often met with skepticism. Remember when scrolling through the early web was like navigating a maze? You weren’t alone. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver probably didn’t anticipate that this quirky little summit would turn into one of the hottest tickets at All-Star weekend.

Looking back, you can almost hear him asking, “What’s next?” Spoiler alert: no one had a clue. Silver recently remarked on how far we’ve come since that inaugural chat, noting that “there has been so much innovation around media and technology”. The man’s not wrong, who would’ve guessed that the internet would disrupt everything in sight, especially the world of sports?

One particularly prophetic speaker from the first summit was none other than Mark Cuban. He was on the verge of becoming the owner of the Dallas Mavericks and knew back then that streaming was going to take over. Fast forward to this year, and the summit featured a panel discussion among major streaming giants like Netflix, Apple, and Amazon. Who knew our favorite shows would end up making us more interested in basketball too?

Among the star-studded line-up this year were National Basketball Players Association executive director Andre Iguodala, not to mention rising stars like Victor Wembanyama and WNBA champion Sabrina Ionescu. Talk about a power panel!

Instead of fizzing out after that initial summit, the event keeps coming back, proving to be a must-attend for anyone with a pulse and an interest in combining sports with tech. Not only does it attract NBA owners and billionaires, but also tons of media moguls, all while maintaining an air of exclusivity.

Silver can’t help but remember past summits that featured legendary interviews with the likes of Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan. This year’s big interview was Bob Costas chatting it up with Golden State’s coach Steve Kerr. It’s a celebration of basketball, tech, and everything in between.

As Silver pondered the future of these summits, he acknowledged that predicting what topics would be hot in 2050 is beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. AI? Robotics? As if anyone could have seen that coming 25 years ago. One thing is for sure, the NBA Tech Summit will keep evolving, and we’ll be here with our popcorn, ready to binge on the future of sports.