Adam Silver says chip-equipped smart ball could help NBA officials as soon as next year

NEW YORK — Oct. 13, 2026 — NBA commissioner Adam Silver says the league could start using a game ball with a tracking chip inside it to help referees as soon as next year, as part of a project with ball maker Wilson.

A one-gram chip players could not feel

Speaking in TV interviews around the league’s preseason games in Macao, Silver explained that the chip weighs about a gram, a tiny fraction of a regulation ball’s roughly 620 grams. Because NBA players are so sensitive to how a ball feels, the league ran blind comparisons in the G League and at Summer League using balls with and without the chip, and Silver said no one could tell which was which.

How it could help referees

Silver described two main officiating uses. A sudden change in the ball’s spin could show whether a player’s fingertip grazed it before it went out of bounds, and a change in a shot’s arc could help determine goaltending. Those are calls that are often hard to settle even with replay. The league has already spent this preseason putting new officiating points in focus.

He added that fan-facing uses, such as letting shooters track the spin and arc of hundreds of practice shots, are probably a few years away.

Wearables still need a deal with players

Silver said the league and the players’ union have not agreed on how wearable tracking devices could be used during games. He acknowledged the union’s concern that data showing a player slowing down could be used against him in contract talks, and said the sides need clear rules on how that information is handled. He noted that players already wear such devices for most of the day outside of games.

Europe and prediction markets

The commissioner also said he still expects the NBA to reach an agreement with the EuroLeague on its plans for a European league, despite reports that an earlier proposal was turned down, and that the NBA will move forward on the project either way. Our earlier coverage of the NBA Europe talks has more background.

On prediction markets, Silver said the league’s top concern is the integrity of games. He wants access to trading data to spot suspicious activity and more control over which markets are offered, pointing to contracts on events such as coaching changes as an example of what the league does not want.