Adam Silver’s Nba Tech Push Could Change Officiating. Will The Players Buy In?

The next big NBA technology development could be hiding inside the basketball itself.

The league announced Oct. 5 it will be experimenting with two pieces of technology before the beginning of the regular season. That announcement came into conversations over the weekend at the NBA Global Games in Macao.

The league is trying out a “smart ball” that could help officials make more accurate calls, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver believes the technology could make its way into games as soon as next year.

Speaking with CNBC over the weekend, Silver explained how the NBA is working with Wilson, its official basketball manufacturer, to place a small chip inside the ball. The technology could help officials determine whether a player touched the ball before it went out of bounds or whether a shot’s trajectory changed during a potential goaltending violation.

But the smart ball is only one piece of Silver’s broader technology push. The commissioner has also discussed using artificial intelligence to automate certain officiating decisions, while the league continues negotiations with the National Basketball Players Association over wearable technology and how teams could use the resulting player data.

Those ideas could help correct the calls on the court and give players new ways to improve. But they also raise questions about how much technology belongs on the court, particularly when it comes to collecting data that could eventually affect a player’s career and possibly their earning potential.

Could be as soon as next year

The NBA’s smart ball features a chip weighing roughly one gram. That’s a tiny addition to a basketball that weighs about 620 grams, but Silver said the league wanted to make sure players wouldn’t notice any difference.

“Even though it’s 1/620th or so of the weight, we wanted to make sure that the players, who are so sophisticated and have bounced a million balls, wouldn’t sense something was off,” Silver told CNBC. “So we tested in the G League, we tested in the Summer League, and we A/B tested the ball with a chip, without a chip, and nobody could tell the difference. So that’s a good sign.”

The idea is to give officials a helping hand when they’re faced with close calls that can be difficult to see in real time — like catching those small shifts in a ball’s spin to figure out if a player actually touched it before it headed out of bounds. Silver detailed those practical applications further to CNBC.

“One is in terms of officiating,” Silver said. “We think it’s an opportunity where, by any change in the spin of the ball, you can tell, for example, if a finger touched the ball when it’s going out of bounds. For goaltending, you can tell if the arc changed in the shot.”

Think about a close out-of-bounds play late in a tight game like Game 5 of this year’s Western Conference Finals between the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder. There was a missed out-of-bounds call that favored center Chet Holmgren and the Oklahoma City Thunder after the ball seemingly went out of bounds off Holmgren’s foot.

Instead of relying entirely on what an official sees from a particular angle, the league could eventually use data from the ball to help determine who touched it last.

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Silver mentioned that while the NBA could begin using the technology as soon as next year, the league would still need to determine how it fits into its existing rules and procedures.

The potential applications go beyond helping officials, too. Silver said the chip could eventually become a training tool for everyday players, giving them a better idea of why some shots fall and others don’t.

“Great shooters put spin on the ball and arc on the ball,” Silver said. “So the chip, you’ll be able to graph, let’s say, you’re a young person, boy or girl, out playing, and you take 500 shots, you’ll then see the graph, and you’ll see for which the angle of the shots that went in, that are more likely to go in, so you can adjust ... how to become a better player.”

Silver noted that consumer product is still a few years away, but it could give the NBA another way to connect its on-court technology with fans and young players looking to improve their games.

“It’s a really exciting opportunity,” he said.

Silver also wants AI to help with officiating

The smart ball isn’t the only technology Silver wants to bring to officiating.

Back in May, the commish also discussed using AI and camera-tracking systems to make certain calls automatically, particularly decisions that have a clear, objective answer.

The one example already mentioned is determining which team touched the ball last before it went out of bounds. Systems similar to the Hawk-Eye technology used in tennis could help the NBA make those calls faster, reducing the need for lengthy reviews and seeing those flashing green lights from coach’s challenges.

Another area where technology could assist is in curbing the growing issue of flopping.

See below for Part 1 of the 2026-27 Areas of Focus video (narrated by SVP, Head of Referee Development and Training Monty McCutchen), which provides examples and guidance regarding Flopping and Closeouts on Jump Shots – Landing Space: pic.twitter.com/Pbma6PyyPi

— NBA Official (@NBAOfficial) September 30, 2026

“It’s been a conversation,” said Silver in May. “I would only say that there’s a difference between selling a call, exaggeration, and a true flop, which is where you’re actually fooling the referees. I think sometimes even as I sit in the stands at games, players may be falling, players may be reacting to a call, but then to me, if they’re not fooling the referees, it’s like, OK. The players are taught to sell calls these days,” said Silver.

The idea isn’t necessarily to replace referees. Few believe that is the objective.

Instead, the league could let technology handle some of the easier decisions while officials focus on plays that require more judgment, such as determining whether contact between players warrants a foul.

“Can officiating get better? Of course,” said Silver. “We’re always working on that. Can officials get fooled occasionally? We’re always looking for that as well. But I think the officiating is incredible.”

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For the NBA, better technology could mean fewer missed calls, less time spent reviewing plays and fewer controversies surrounding the biggest moments of games.

It could also help the league maintain a better pace of play, something that has risen to extraordinary highs in recent years due to deep court spacing, frequent ball-pushing, and full-court pressure.

Still, the technology will need to prove it can consistently improve those decisions without creating new problems.

Why players have concerns about wearables

Wearable technology is where things get a little more complicated.

Silver, over the weekend, noted the NBA has been discussing the possibility of players wearing tracking devices during games with the NBPA. Though, the league and union have yet to reach an agreement on how that information would be collected and used.

The NBA has already tested wrist wearables with officials during some preseason and Summer League games this year, calling it a success, but they won’t be in play during the upcoming regular season just yet. The gear helped officials touch base with the replay center on reviews, score tweaks and clock glitches.

Players already use wearables to monitor things such as sleep, recovery and physical activity away from the court. But allowing teams to collect that information during games could introduce another factor into how they evaluate players.

“I think there’s a lot of sensitivity, particularly from the players’ union, about how that data might be used,” Silver told CNBC.

He understands why players might be hesitant.

“If you could see a player was slowing down or something like that, they’re worried that that could get used in bargaining, and I get that,” Silver said. “So I think we have to come to some agreement on exactly how the information’s used.”

NBA agent and marketer Nate Jones pointed out on social media that there are also rules around wearable tech.

Rules around player data tracking in the NBA. Only for use outside of games! pic.twitter.com/bfGRLwjiHB

— Nate Jones (@JonesOnTheNBA) October 12, 2026

But wearable technology wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for players.

The same information could help teams and medical staffs monitor workloads, identify signs of fatigue and make more informed decisions about recovery. Players could also gain a better understanding of their own performance and physical demands throughout the long 82-game season.

The key would be establishing clear rules about who can access the information and how it can be used. If the league and union can agree on those boundaries, wearables could provide useful information without automatically becoming another weapon in contract negotiations.

“The players generally have something on them, if you just walk, whether they’re warming up or when they’re in their day-to-day lives, or to monitor sleep like a lot of us do,” Silver said. He added, “I think the players are in a position right now where they’re essentially wearing wearables 22 hours a day, and the only time they’re not wearing them is when they’re playing in the game, so that can’t make sense. So we’ll work something out with them.”

For Silver, the appeal is clear: Technology could help the NBA make better decisions and give players and fans more ways to understand the game.

The harder part may be getting everyone on board. The league will need to show that these tools can improve basketball without creating new problems for the players who make it worth watching.