NBA Fans Can Now Track New AI Stats, Amazon Says

Basketball enthusiasts are about to experience the game through an entirely new analytical lens starting with the 2025–2026 NBA season, thanks to a groundbreaking partnership between the NBA and Amazon Web Services. A sophisticated new platform named NBA Inside the Game will introduce a suite of advanced statistics powered by artificial intelligence, offering fans unprecedented insights into player performance and on-court dynamics. This technology promises to deliver highly detailed metrics that go far beyond traditional box scores, capturing elements of the sport that have never been quantified before.

The system works by meticulously tracking the movements of every player on the court. While Amazon has not disclosed the exact methodology, it involves monitoring 29 distinct body parts for each athlete. This continuous stream of movement data is processed by AWS’s AI to generate new statistics designed to reveal the hidden intricacies of basketball. The goal is to provide a deeper understanding of the game by measuring aspects that have previously been unobservable or difficult to quantify.

One of the most anticipated new metrics is the Expected Field Goal Percentage. This stat moves beyond simply recording whether a shot was made or missed. Instead, it calculates the probability of a shot being successful by analyzing a complex set of factors in real-time. These include the shooter’s body orientation, their specific pose at the moment of release, and the precise positioning of all nearby defenders. This gives fans a much clearer picture of the true difficulty of any given shot attempt.

Another innovative metric, dubbed Gravity, aims to quantify the intangible advantage a player creates for their team. It analyzes how a player’s movements, both with and without the ball, affect the defense. By tracking how closely a defender sticks to an offensive player, the system can measure how much that player’s presence “pulls” defenders out of position, thereby creating advantageous space and scoring opportunities for their teammates.

The platform also introduces a dedicated focus on defense with the Defensive Score Box. This set of statistics provides a more nuanced evaluation of a defender’s impact on a specific play. It breaks down traditional defensive numbers like rebounds and blocks, contextualizing them within the flow of the game to offer a clearer assessment of a player’s defensive contribution beyond the basic stat sheet.

For fans who crave even more detail, a powerful new tool called Play Finder will be available. Integrated directly into the NBA Inside the Game platform, it allows users to search through the league’s vast video archive at the level of individual plays. This means you can instantly find and review every crossover, block, or alley-oop that meets your specific search criteria.

These new AI-powered stats will be integrated into live NBA game broadcasts and will also be accessible through the official NBA app and website. The adoption of live analytics is becoming increasingly common across professional sports. Leagues like the NFL and MLB already utilize systems like Sony’s Hawk-Eye for tracking objects and players, and its introduction in tennis at Wimbledon was a landmark moment that changed how the sport is officiated and viewed.

This initiative is the latest development in a growing relationship between the NBA and Amazon. In 2024, the organizations solidified an 11-year media rights agreement, which grants Prime Video the rights to stream 66 regular-season NBA games annually, with the first broadcast scheduled for October 24th. That same deal also formally established AWS as the official cloud and cloud AI partner for the NBA and its affiliated leagues, including the WNBA.

(Source: The Verge)