Second Spectrum is expanding its presence with the NBA, signing a deal to partner on player and ball optical tracking systems for the G League across all of its venues. The firm uses a series of cameras ringing an arena to triangulate player position and orientation. Second Spectrum, which became the NBA’s official optical tracking provider in ’16, will capture new stats and insights for the NBA’s developmental league, including shot probabilities, player health and performance metrics, defensive metrics and off-the-ball metrics. Second Spectrum’s augmented reality experience also will be woven into select G League game telecasts on NBA TV and ESPN platforms.
Second Spectrum has similar tracking deals with MLS and the Premier League. The tech outfit was acquired by Genius Sports this past May for $200M. While the NFL uses Genius Sports for streaming data related to sports betting, the NBA signed an eight-year deal with competitor Sportradar in November for just over $1B.
