SBJ Tech: Gen AI taking hold in the NBA

A multiyear effort to harness innovation has resulted in a unique structure (and a specific AI-related role) for the Cavaliers as they develop a better understanding of AI. The organization has a business intelligence group that features three people with an AI focus: Senior Director/Development Operations Adam Schneider, Data Analyst Quinn Spangler and AI Solutions Architect Ben Levicki. The unit is considered the core of the Cavs’ effort to move forward with AI, pairing with a data operations group and an advanced analytics group in an effort to promote efficient growth.

Levicki's role is unique in the sports industry -- and frankly, one I had not seen before. A quick (and non-scientific) search on LinkedIn for his job title yielded a slew of people who work at places like AWS, Intel, Nvidia and Snowflake.

The role is roughly 18 months old, according to SVP/Business Strategy Kevin O’Toole, and has served as an instrument of critical learning that flows through the entire organization. “That role is focused on how do we take AI as a technology and implement it more effectively within our business,” O’Toole said. “We have machine learning in other forms, but specific to generative AI, we started with building a lot of use cases."

Levicki became an ideal fit because of his tech background and institutional knowledge (he joined in January 2022). Also, according to VP/Product and Technology Conor Kenney, his status as a recognizable face in the workspace -- not a third-party pulling for answers from afar -- enables Levicki to educate and help workflow problems. Built-in knowledge of the Cavs’ tech stack helps, too.

“The one thing that I have that I don’t think people talk about enough is the security of what all this means and what you’re sending out there,” Kenney said. “... His understanding of what they’re trying to do and [being able to] say, ‘There’s actually a better way to do it, and you’re going to get the exact same thing.’”

Added O’Toole: “It’s not just a technology role, but it’s one that has to implement business value.”

Making AI a fixture of workflows

AI has been a fixture in the Cavs organization for approximately the last five years. O’Toole noted the team used machine learning to develop a dynamic ticket-pricing model. With the GenAI boom, staffers are now more accustomed to using it in their workflows. O’Toole said that more than 280 Cavs employees are active users of their GenAI tool of choice, Perplexity, which they picked because of its capability to fit into the single sign-on of their system. Fitting in the SSO structure is a major security boost, Kenney and O’Toole both stressed.

The learning and growing never stops around AI -- which is maybe the most vital part of using it in any way -- and O’Toole appreciates that the current development setup for the Cavaliers keeps them in constant pursuit of growth.

“It's evolving so rapidly that it's very difficult to stay ahead of that and understand how you can gain efficiencies, how you can drive revenue if it's constantly evolving?” O’Toole said. “So having a resource in house that is staying abreast of the topic, whatever that topic is related to technology, gives us that advantage.”

The Trail Blazers continue their efforts to inject generative AI throughout various departments. Portland’s Christa Stout and David Long joined the "Think Fast, Talk Smart" podcast for a live session on Monday evening via LinkedIn. The two spoke with AI enthusiast Jeremy Utley and host Matt Abrahams, both of whom are Stanford professors. You can watch the entire session here .

The group talked about the Trail Blazers year-plus effort to use Gen AI, a journey that’s been helped by Utley. I wrote about that work earlier this year, as well as my experience with their AI boot camp .

Here are my big takeaways from the event, including Stout’s critical one-two-three for Gen AI success:

• Shift from bot to coworker: Utley has noticed real breakthroughs when people learn to look at AI as a collaborator instead of just an “answer giver.” Stout elaborated on that, saying it’s important to let people learn at their own pace when it comes to AI. “This ‘coworker’ is not here to take your job -- it's here to make your job easier,” said Stout, the Blazers’ EVP and chief strategy and innovation officer. “And the only thing that’s going to take your job down the line is a human who knows how to use Gen AI more effectively to do the job.”

• Understand what’s worth your time: Long mentioned a need to recognize what’s worth the pursuit via AI and what to leave for others to figure out. While the Blazers can solve for business efficiency, they aren’t going to spend time building tools for Photoshop or Qualtrics when those partners will build better AI tools inside their own structures. “Having a good sit-down and looking at exactly what you’re trying to solve -- looking at the tech stack that you’re trying to solve it within -- and really auditing and thinking, ‘Is this going to be something that you expect them to work on and create and unroll and unpack for you at some point?’” said Long, the team’s VP/digital and innovation. “Then let’s maybe pause on that one and focus on something where we can have more of an impact building smaller tools that could eliminate, eight, 10, 15 hours [of work] a week.”

• Steps for Gen AI success: As a closing note, Stout highlighted some major keys to anyone going through their own AI initiative. One, figure out the biggest ROI opportunity in your business and how Gen AI fits into that mold. Two, get the senior-most leader on board with the learning effort if you can -- for the Blazers, that was President/Business Operations Dewayne Hankins, who said to Stout during a one-on-one last year that “we’ve got to figure out Gen AI.” And lastly, the best way to look at Gen AI is as a behavioral change -- not just tech. “It’s just a mindset shift from ‘How do I bring this new technology to my company' to 'How do I help people think differently and approach work differently?” Stout said.

Technology solutions firm Next League’s recent hiring of Cristina Vanderbeck is one of opportunity striking at an ideal time. Upcoming major events -- 2026 FIFA World Cup and LA28, for starters -- bring moments of international reach to so many teams, leagues and brands in the sports industry.

Vanderbeck’s success so far features efforts to establish fan connections, whether they be in Latin America or within the Hispanic population in the U.S. -- which Pew Research Center estimated to be 65.2 million people in 2023, 19% of the nation’s population. She’s worked with the PGA Tour as senior director of the former PGA Tour Latinoamérica, and she’s managed the branding for the likes of the Mexican national team and Concacaf during her time before that with MLS.

The opportunity at Next League -- which works with USOPC, TMRW Sports, NASCAR and the LPGA -- offered a challenge to essentially be the right person at the right time.

“It was just the feeling of the leadership truly being behind something new and being unafraid of changing the way we see certain things and being unafraid of embracing the unknown,” Vanderbeck said. “Everybody sees the U.S. Hispanic market as this big multibillion-dollar question mark, which it is, but you have leadership that says, 'Hey, I may not know everything that I need to know about this -- can we find the right people to allow us to grow?'”

Technology is one of the great connectors, Vanderbeck maintains, and with the backing of her new technology firm employer, she sees a way to establish the essential factor for brands to engage any fan: authenticity. Reaching a fan of any demographic is not a one-size-fits-all setup.

For example, Vanderbeck grew up in Brazil before coming to the U.S. for a student exchange program at Western Kentucky. She loved the Brazilian national team (which were at their peak in that time). As a sports fan today, she of course wants to stay updated on Latino athletes who she’s closely followed. But also, she wants to see content about a given sport’s top talent as well because of a general love of the game she’s tracking. “There’s different touch points to every demographic,” Vanderbeck said. “... You really need to find a way to truly connect with somebody.”

Vanderbeck has often found the need for a “startup-like mentality” in her work, but that approach has always been backed by strong leagues. She feels that same type of support with the crew at Next League, and she hopes to help future clients find new additions to their fan bases as these international stages soon hit North American soil.

That mission comes straight from those early days as a transplant who found comfort in the camaraderie.

“I've always felt that sporting events, or the culture of sports, it was always something that was just easy,” Vanderbeck said, drawing on those first sporting moments in the U.S. "It was welcoming. It was fun.”

• London-based sports marketing agency Two Circles acquired CRM intelligence platform Kore.

• WMT Digital has spent most of this year boosting its products and personnel, acquiring AI ticketing platform Event Dynamic and releasing a new way to better see client data with QuantOS. WMT boasts a college client roster that includes Notre Dame, Clemson and LSU among its approximately 100 brands.

• The NBA is unveiling several updates to its flagship app ahead of its 2024-25 season, including two new AI-powered features, writes SBJ's Rob Schaefer: NBA Insights, powered through an integration with Microsoft Azure, and Dunk Score, a rating system that will combine AI and Hawk-Eye player-tracking data to generate scores for particularly potent throwdowns.

• Intuit Dome hosted its first basketball game Monday night, and SBJ's Joe Lemire was on hand to check out how the tech can make a personalized experience for fans thanks to Misapplied Sciences' new Parallel Reality.

• This week's Athlete's Voice features Gordon Hayward discussing the launch of his company, Form, which makes a shooting aid that's a flat-sided cube whose shape helps encourage proper shooting form and the development of muscle memory. The pro ambassadors for Form are 76ers F Paul George and the Indiana Fever G Lexie Hull.