The NBA announced on Monday, October 5, 2026, that it is testing smart basketballs and wearable technology for officials during select preseason exhibition games. The experiments are designed to gather data for potential use in future real-time officiating decisions and to facilitate communication between on-court referees and the league’s replay center.
The official wrist wearables followed a pilot program conducted during the NBA Summer League, which the league described as successful. The current tests for both technologies are limited to the preseason and will not extend into the regular season.
The \"connected\" basketballs, developed by Wilson, contain an internal Bluetooth sensor capable of collecting data. While the league intends to use this information for research into future officiating decisions, officials will not use data from these sensors to make or change calls during the current exhibition games.
Officials in the select games are also wearing wrist-mounted devices to communicate with the replay center in designated situations. These include formal replay reviews, adjustments to the score, and instances of clock malfunctions.
If the data collection proves reliable, it could lead to future implementation of automated systems. Currently, the NBA has confirmed this technology will not extend into the 2026-27 regular season. Further decisions regarding the adoption of these tools will depend on the analysis of data collected during these exhibition games.