JORGE QUIROGA / KEVIN CARTER
Updated
Adam Silver surprised everyone this past Sunday during a preseason game by revealing on NBC’s microphones that the NBA was working on a smart basketball. The Commissioner explained that it was an experiment, but that its inclusion could be as soon as this very season but already in the year 2027.
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Silver made it clear that the new technology to be embedded in each ball will help improve the speed and accuracy of certain refereeing decisions, such as a ball out of bounds or goaltending, that is, interfering with a shot when the ball is descending or when it is above the rim’s cylinder. In addition, it could also help improve a player's shot because it analyzes trajectories and arcs.
The technology consists of including in the ball a smart chip weighing barely one gram, which should not affect the weight of the ball, which is 620 grams. In fact, Silver confirmed that tests have been carried out in G League, Summer League, and even preseason games without receiving any complaints from players, including veterans, about the weight of the ball. No one noticed the difference.
We believe it is an opportunity where, through any change in the spin of the ball, it can be determined, for example, whether a finger touched the ball and it was going to go out of bounds," Silver said. "In the case of goaltending, you can see whether the trajectory of the shot changed. I also think there will be other applications, ultimately for consumers, such as the ball leaving the hand or the arc of a shot.
The typical conspiracy theory on social media has not been missing either, which in this case is called: "The magnetic ball", which says that this chip can influence shots to achieve the desired result. In other words, the manipulation of games. It will be a recurring topic on social media.
In any case, it is not a new technology. In football, FIFA introduced it during the 2026 World Cup to determine whether or not a ball had completely crossed the goal line. That technology is already established in major competitions.