The NBA is stepping a little further into the realm of numbers and tech. With a new deal with Amazon Web Services (AWS), the league will introduce four new public statistics from the 2025–26 season. These aren’t just for front offices and data folk, but for everyone and broadcasters who are able to witness it live. It’s changing the way people view the game in a way.
What’s New in the Partnership
The partnership between the NBA and Amazon introduces a new set of features known as “NBA Inside the Game.” The concept here is to assist everyone, from fans and commentators to casual viewers, in viewing basketball beyond scores and points.
Defensive Box Score
Rather than revealing mere offense again, the Defensive Box Score lists players working on defense. It informs us about who’s cutting off shots, defusing passes, and bringing pressure. Defense rarely gets its fair share of glows in regular stats, so this fills that void at last.
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Gravity
Gravity demonstrates how much attention a player commands from defenders simply by being on the court. It measures how close defenders are, how they’re moving, and how much room that player leaves for others. So it basically indicates who is stretching the defense, even if they don’t even touch the ball.
Shot Difficulty (Expected Field Goal Percentage)
This one employs machine learning and pose detection, such as tracking 29 points on a player’s body some 60 times per second. It analyzes how difficult a shot actually was, by distance, angle, and defender position. If you contrast the actual outcome with the percentage chance, you can tell how difficult or simple each shot actually was.
Play Finder
The Play Finder is closer to being an AI search engine for plays. It stores all the action from an offensive possession, where the players and the ball move, and then you are able to search for similar ones later on. For instance, you might find every pick-and-roll that resembled the one Kyrie did last night.
These figures will be incorporated into NBA telecasts and online platforms, allowing the announcers to utilize them in real time during the game.
The Road Ahead
The 2025–26 season is only the beginning of this new era of data. Down the line, the NBA and AWS could introduce even more models or artificial intelligence capabilities such as intelligent replays and highlight suggestions.
Ultimately, this alliance between Amazon and the NBA sends a clear message: the future of basketball no longer occurs on the court itself, it’s now being constructed in the cloud.
