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Business of Sports

NBA Wearables Debate Centres on Data Rights as Game Use Remains Barred

An October 16 report says there have been no recent talks on changing the rule; the collective agreement already limits how teams can use wearable data.

By TSP Staff
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, centre in a blue shirt, at a City Harvest service event in New York in November 2014.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver, centre, at a City Harvest service event in New York in November 2014. Archival photograph. · Credit: Daniel Hinton / U.S. Department of Defense

NBA rules continue to bar players from using wearable performance devices in games, with control of the information they produce remaining an unresolved issue.

Front Office Sports reported Friday, citing sources close to the National Basketball Players Association, that there have been no recent talks about changing that rule. The report followed commissioner Adam Silver’s discussion of in-game wearables with CNBC earlier this week.

The union’s concerns include players’ control of health information and whether performance data could affect contract bargaining, FOS reported. No agreement or implementation date was announced.

The current collective bargaining agreement already limits data collected through team-requested wearables to player health and performance and team basketball purposes. Article XXII, Section 13 also prohibits using that data in contract negotiations or other player transactions.

Approved devices can be requested for voluntary use outside games, and a player can stop using one. Game use and commercial publication of team-requested wearable data remain barred pending a further agreement between the league and union.