AWS and NBA double (dribble) up with AI platform for basketball analytics and fan experiences

Amazon Web Services has announced a multi-year partnership with the National Basketball Association to launch “NBA Inside the Game,” an AI-powered platform that transforms game data into insights and interactive experiences. The collaboration positions AWS to capitalize on the growing intersection of sports analytics and artificial intelligence, while giving the NBA advanced tools to enhance fan engagement and team strategy analysis.

What you should know: The platform will deliver AI-driven basketball analytics across multiple NBA channels and provide teams with strategic insights.

• “NBA Inside the Game” will offer features for live broadcasts and be integrated into the NBA App, website, and social media channels.
• Teams will have access to the AI-generated data and statistics for strategic review and game planning.
• The platform will track player data to generate defensive positioning analysis, shot success percentages, and strategic insights.

Why this matters: Sports organizations are increasingly adopting AI partnerships with cloud providers to deliver deeper analytics and enhance fan experiences through machine learning capabilities.

• The deal reflects a broader trend of sports leagues leveraging artificial intelligence to provide more sophisticated statistics and engagement tools for audiences.
• Teams can use the AI insights to improve their on-court strategy and performance analysis.

How it works: The system transforms raw basketball data points into actionable insights and interactive fan experiences.

• AI algorithms will analyze player movements and game situations to generate statistics on defensive positions and team strategies.
• The platform processes shot data to provide success percentage analytics and strategic recommendations.

What they’re saying: NBA executives emphasize the importance of team input in developing these AI-powered statistics.

• “Whenever we build a statistic, there is always input from our teams, because we want to make sure that these services we build not only are great for our fans, but also help our teams improve their strategy on court,” said Ken DeGennaro, the NBA’s head of media operations and technology.

Competitive landscape: The AWS-NBA partnership follows similar AI initiatives in professional sports.

• Microsoft signed a five-year partnership with the English Premier League earlier this year to integrate its AI copilot into the league’s digital platforms.
• Cloud providers are increasingly competing for sports partnerships as leagues seek to modernize their analytics and fan engagement capabilities.