NBA and AWS announce partnership to drive the next era of basketball innovation

The National Basketball Association (NBA) and Amazon Web Services (AWS) today announced a multi-year partnership to drive the next generation of league innovation, with AWS becoming the Official Cloud and Cloud AI Partner of the NBA and its affiliated leagues, including WNBA, NBA G League, Basketball Africa League, and NBA Take-Two Media.

As part of the partnership, NBA and AWS will launch NBA Inside the Game powered by AWS, a new basketball intelligence platform that will transform billions of data points into engaging insights and interactive experiences, reinventing how fans connect to the game around the world.

Built on top of AWS's leading AI infrastructure, the platform will feature a suite of features that enhance live streams and elevate the fan experience across the NBA app, NBA.com, and league social channels.

“The partnership with AWS offers us the opportunity to elevate the live game experience through innovation and provide fans with a deeper understanding of basketball for the next few years”, said Ken DeGennaro, NBA Executive Vice President and Head of Media and Technology Operations.“A AWS has a proven track record of providing unique statistical insights and delivering transformative experiences that will resonate with NBA fans around the world”

“In AWS, we are excited about the NBA's vision to push the boundaries of what is possible in the sport of”, said Francesca Vasquez, Vice President of Professional Services & Agentic AI at AWS. “This partnership will show how the cloud and AI can reinvent the game of basketball from generating new insights to creating experiences that bring fans closer to the game they love. Together, we are delivering technology that not only enhances live streams and digital platforms, but also transforms how players, coaches and fans understand basketball.”

Advanced Statistics with AI

The NBA will use AWS AI capabilities to provide fans with live statistics and comprehensive analytics during games.This new advanced statistics platform processes NBA player tracking data, which analyzes the movements of 29 data points per athlete, using machine learning and AI to contextualize events on the court and generate real-time insights.

Fans will be able to deepen their understanding of the game by accessing new stats on the NBA app, NBA.com, and during live streams including NBA on Prime.

Throughout the 2025-26 season, NBA and AWS will introduce new AI-driven statistics that capture aspects of basketball performance never before measured, starting with:

• Defensive Box Score: Reimagining the Fundamental Metric of Basketball
  The Defensive Box Score quantifies individual defensive contributions that traditional statistics cannot measure. AI algorithms detect, in real time, which defender is responsible for each attacking player.With the primary defender identified, the traditional box score can be improved by associating each statistic with the corresponding marker. New metrics such as pressure on the ball, double marking and defensive exchanges can also be recorded.
• Shot Difficulty: The Science of Throwing
  The Shot Difficulty it goes beyond conventional hit-or-miss statistics, evaluating each aspect of a pitch attempt.The difficulty will be quantified with new metrics, such as the Expected Field Goal %, which takes into account factors such as pitching orientation and preparation, defensive contestation details, pressure, interference and player placement on the court. This statistic offers a deeper appreciation of the skill and strategy behind each scoring attempt.
• Gravity: Quantifying Invisible Impact
  The Gravity it translates into numbers what coaches and analysts have observed for years: how certain players create advantages for their teammates just by being on the court, even without touching the ball. This new metric measures the level of attention a player receives from the defense, considering the proximity of the marking with or without the ball, to quantify the space generated for colleagues. The system processes optical tracking data 60 times per second, using personalized neural networks to analyze how defenders react to specific players, taking into account both real-time context and historical data.

Transforming Basketball Intelligence

NBA Inside the Game powered by AWS will also feature a new technology called Play Finder, which uses AI to analyze and understand player movements across thousands of matches. With services like Amazon Bedrock and Amazon SageMaker, the tool will enable instant searches of similar plays, paving the way for future integrations of generative AI based on player tracking data.

The Play Finder it will help fans and narrators learn common offensive strategies and explore deeper insights by combining play results with advanced analytics.

A real-time alert system within the Play Finder it will allow commentators to provide historical context and strategic insights instantly, making each game more engaging, educational and informative.NBA teams will have direct access to the machine learning models that underpin the tool, improving management and coaching workflows.

Future versions of Play Finder they will allow fans to explore basketball strategy in unprecedented depth in the NBA app.

Global Fan Engagement

The NBA app, NBA.com, and NBA League Pass & NBA Pass that provide year-round coverage and programming for fans around the world will run on AWS. Through this partnership, the NBA will accelerate global basketball growth by providing fans with new and unique opportunities to understand team strategies and concepts that lead to on-court execution.

In addition, NBA and AWS will make content available in different languages and custom experiences across platforms.

The partnership also extends the NBA's strategic relationship with Amazon.This season marks the beginning of the historic 11-year Prime Video media rights agreement, with 66 regular season games streamed globally and a new suite of interactive features to debut.Prime Video will also be the strategic partner and global destination for NBA League Pass third-party subscriptions, offering live and on-demand game streaming in the U. S. and internationally.

The first night of NBA on Prime will feature a double round on Friday, October 24, in the season's opening week, with the Celtics facing the Knicks (19:30 ET) and the Lakers receiving the Timberwolves (22h ET) in two NBA 2025 playoff re-encounters