Hawk-Eye, the revolutionary technology that’s already been used in tennis and football to track the ball at all times, will arrive at the NBA in the 2023-2024 season and will ease the burden on the referees' shoulders after a season that has been tainted by a long string of mistakes on the court.
The NBA signed a multi-year deal with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations to use the tech that will allow the league to gather specialized data, track the movement of each player and the ball at all times, and ease the referee’s decision-making process.
The new technology will give the referees the power to make decisions in specific instances regarding the position of the players’ feet during a three-point shot or to determine if a player touched the ball on or off the court.
There’s also the possibility of using Hawk Eye to make automatic decisions in the future, which already happens in tennis and has phased out the use of referees, even in major ATP and WTA tournaments.
The technology developed by Sony won’t only be used to help the referees, but also to reach new heights regarding sports analysis and the content that is being offered to the fans.
In fact, the NBA is planning to offer virtual recreations of the games and dynamic angles to follow the biggest stars.
The league has been working with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations since 2019 and performed some successful trials with the technology in the last Summer League.
Referees under the microscope
This season, the league has been wrapped in controversy coming from the performance of the referees even though commissioner Adam Silver has said that the referees are under constant revision.
One of the most infamous moments of the year happened in January during a game between the Boston Celtics and the Los Angeles Lakers after a clear foul on LeBron that was ignored by the referees, a decisive mistake that outraged the Lakers’ players.
After the game, the referees from that game admitted that there was a foul by Jayson Tatum on LeBron James: “There was contact. At that time, during the game, we didn’t see the foul,” they explained.
“That hurt SO MUCH!!!! I don’t understand,” LeBron tweeted at the time.
Another incident came in February during a game between the New Orleans Pelicans and the Dallas Mavericks, when the referees gave Dallas the possession because they thought Brandon Ingram, from the Pelicans, had touched the ball with his foot on the line.
That mistake ended New Orleans’ chances to win, although the referees later admitted their mistake.
Although Hawk Eye wouldn’t help LeBron’s situation, it could work to solve issues similar to what happened to Ingram.