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The NBA Athledex Platform: The Tool Every NBA Team Should Be Using
Nick Crain | 12/1/22
The NBA Athledex Platform is quickly emerging in the industry as the premier way for NBA teams to maximize the value of their current roster while making quick, and smart, decisions moving forward. With a wide variety of validated models, the Athledex contains a database of 450+ active NBA Players and provides critical insights and analysis into NBA player performance, financial value, and overall basketball analytics. This allows teams to analyze an NBA player’s real-time and predictive information within individual NBA player portfolios that have five distinct content areas and display information through 20 different models. Each of these 20 models provide important context to NBA teams, but there’s three key workflows that really give these franchises an edge over others.Maximize Rotations and Individual Performance
Throughout the course of the season, teams want to ensure they’re getting the most out of their athletes. Whether it’s for development purposes or to give the team the best chance to win games, it’s crucial to understand which rotations work best and how certain players perform alongside each other. The Player Synergy model provides franchises with intel on the combinations of athletes best suited to play together in a lineup and complement each other’s respective skill sets. For example, if the Oklahoma City Thunder wanted to identify which players fit best with veteran spark plug Kenrich Williams on the floor, that information is just a click away. This also gives insight into the archetypes of the players that are best suited in these combinations.
Trade Value, Free Agency and Potential Fits
The Trade Value model displays an AI directed model that projects the top three trade packages for each NBA player, and projects their real-time asset value within all 30 team rosters calibrated with salary matching thresholds and the NBA player’s financial and performance elements.
For example, let’s use Darius Bazley who is in a contract season. If the Thunder wanted to trade him before he’s able to hit free agency, they could quickly understand trade packages that could make sense for the 22-year-old.
From there, the Team Fit model displays an NBA Player’s current team and the five best team fits based on skillset, strengths, and weaknesses of an athlete and roster makeup of teams. This also has the ability to compare the remaining teams by offense, defense, and playmaking skill areas.
If Oklahoma City wanted to explore which teams Bazley would fit best on, this could be done in a matter of seconds.
Let’s say the Thunder are seriously considering trading Bazley for Daniel Gafford. How would he fit on this current roster? The Athledex has that insight.
When it comes to trade and free agent candidates, teams can gain insight into how these external players would potentially fit with the current roster and individual players in more detail as well. Leveraging artificial intelligence, ProFitX provides a search engine widget that produces the most ideal two and three NBA player combinations across the league.
An example of this would be if the Thunder decided to be buyers at the trade deadline and wanted to make a marginal trade to improve the roster. This model would allow the front office to identify which players around the league would fit best alongside their superstar in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the roster is built around him.
As it relates to signing players, perhaps next summer Josh Hart opts out of his player option and hits free agency. Oklahoma City could be interested in him, which could be quantified when seeing he has a positive fit with Gilgeous-Alexander. 
Understanding Athlete Performance Value in Real Time
Once a team has identified a player that would fit in their system and is ready to make a trade or sign the athlete in free agency, how much are they actually worth? When signing a player in free agency, you don’t want to overpay, but you also don’t want to lowball your offer. On the flip side when evaluating the trade market, you don’t want to give up assets for a player that’s not producing at a high enough level relative to their contract. The Athledex contains a flagship model that displays and identifies the past five years of financial and performance trajectory which include team contracts, real-time contract values, performance growth year by year, free agency career value tier, and projection ranges (high, projected, low), for Fair Market Value and Performance Projections for next two seasons of the athlete’s career. Let’s think back to both Daniel Gafford and Josh Hart. What are those players worth? Is their production value higher or lower than their current contract figure? What can be expected moving forward?
