nba-data

NBA Data

Before writing queries, consult references/api-reference.md for endpoints, ID conventions, and data shapes.

Setup

Before first use, check if the CLI is available:

which sports-skills || pip install sports-skills

If pip install fails with a Python version error, the package requires Python 3.10+. Find a compatible Python:

python3 --version  # check version
# If < 3.10, try: python3.12 -m pip install sports-skills
# On macOS with Homebrew: /opt/homebrew/bin/python3.12 -m pip install sports-skills

No API keys required.

Quick Start

Prefer the CLI — it avoids Python import path issues:

sports-skills nba get_scoreboard
sports-skills nba get_standings --season=2025
sports-skills nba get_teams

CRITICAL: Before Any Query

CRITICAL: Before calling any data endpoint, verify:

• Season year is derived from the system prompt's currentDate — never hardcoded.
• If only a team name is provided, call get_teams to resolve the team ID before using team-specific commands.

Choosing the Season

Derive the current year from the system prompt's date (e.g., currentDate: 2026-02-18 → current year is 2026).

• If the user specifies a season, use it as-is.
• If the user says "current", "this season", or doesn't specify: The NBA season runs October–June. If the current month is October–December, the active season year matches the current year. If January–June, the active season started the previous calendar year (use that year as the season).

Commands

Command	Description
get_scoreboard	Live/recent NBA scores
get_standings	Standings by conference
get_teams	All 30 NBA teams
get_team_roster	Full roster for a team
get_team_schedule	Schedule for a specific team
get_game_summary	Detailed box score and scoring plays
get_leaders	NBA statistical leaders
get_news	NBA news articles
get_play_by_play	Full play-by-play for a game
get_win_probability	Win probability chart data
get_schedule	Schedule for a specific date or season
get_injuries	Injury reports across all teams
get_transactions	Recent transactions
get_futures	Futures/odds markets
get_depth_chart	Depth chart for a team
get_team_stats	Team statistical profile
get_player_stats	Player statistical profile
find_nba_player	Search the NBA Stats player registry (all eras)
get_nbastats_game_log	League game log via NBA Stats — history to 1946, carries NBA game ids
get_nbastats_player_career	Career stats season by season via NBA Stats
get_nbastats_team_stats	League team stats via NBA Stats — advanced ratings, pace, four factors
get_nbastats_shot_chart	Per-shot court coordinates via NBA Stats
get_nbastats_play_by_play	Play-by-play with coordinates for past seasons via NBA Stats
get_nbastats_advanced_boxscore	Advanced box score (ratings, usage) via NBA Stats
get_live_scoreboard	Real-time scores. Primary cdn.nba.com, fallback ESPN
get_live_boxscore	Real-time box score. Primary cdn.nba.com, fallback ESPN
get_live_playbyplay	Real-time play-by-play, most recent plays first
get_player_live_stats	Real-time stats for one player in today's games

See references/api-reference.md for full parameter lists and return shapes.

Shaping Long NBA Stats Results

get_nbastats_game_log, get_nbastats_team_stats and get_nbastats_shot_chart
accept sort_by, descending, limit and fields, so you can ask for the rows
and columns you need instead of a full season:

# Miami's five highest-scoring games, four columns each
sports-skills nba get_nbastats_game_log --season=2025 --team=MIA \
  --sort_by=pts --limit=5 --fields=wl,pts

• sort_by: one column to sort by. Numbers (and numeric strings) sort numerically; missing values always go last.
• descending: true (default) or false; only used with sort_by.
• limit: positive integer, applied after sorting.
• fields: comma-separated keep-list. The identity columns below and the sort_by column are always kept.
• An unknown sort_by/fields column returns an error listing the valid columns.
• With any of these set, the response adds total_rows (matching rows before limit) and returned_rows. With none set, output is unchanged. They are applied after the fetch, so they never change the upstream request or its replay entry.

Command	Always kept by fields
get_nbastats_game_log	game_id, game_date, team_abbreviation, matchup
get_nbastats_team_stats	team_id, team_name, team_abbreviation
get_nbastats_shot_chart	game_id, game_date, period

Column names are NBA.com's, lowercased (pts, fg3m, plus_minus, shot_distance).

Using ESPN and NBA Stats Together

The get_nbastats_* commands read stats.nba.com — the analytics layer (advanced
ratings, shot coordinates, deep history) that ESPN's endpoints do not carry. The
two sources use unrelated id systems:

• Game ids. NBA Stats uses 10-digit ids ("0022400061"); ESPN uses event ids
  ("401704627"). There is no shared column — join on the game date plus the two
  team abbreviations.
• Team abbreviations. Six teams are spelled differently: ESPN GS/NO/NY/
  SA/UTAH/WSH vs NBA GSW/NOP/NYK/SAS/UTA/WAS. Every
  get_nbastats_* team filter accepts either spelling, and result rows carry both
  (team_abbreviation and team_abbreviation_espn).
• Player ids. NBA person ids ("203999") and ESPN athlete ids are unrelated.
  Resolve names with find_nba_player; ASCII spellings match accented names
  ("jokic" finds "Nikola Jokić").
• Seasons. Pass the starting year (season=2024 means 2024-25). The NBA form
  ("2024-25") is also accepted.

stats.nba.com throttles by client and volume: heavy bursts (and many
datacenter/cloud IPs) get silently tarpitted rather than refused. The commands
fail fast with an explanatory error when that happens — wait before retrying;
do not hammer. Responses are cached, and the ESPN-backed and get_live_*
commands are unaffected.

Examples

Example 1: Today's scores
User says: "What are today's NBA scores?"
Actions:

1. Call get_scoreboard()
   Result: All live and recent NBA games with scores and status

Example 2: Conference standings
User says: "Show me the Western Conference standings"
Actions:

1. Derive season year from currentDate
2. Call get_standings(season=<derived_year>)
3. Filter results for Western Conference
   Result: Western Conference standings table with W-L, PCT, GB per team

Example 3: Team roster
User says: "Who's on the Lakers roster?"
Actions:

1. Call get_team_roster(team_id="13")
   Result: Full Lakers roster with name, position, jersey number, height, weight

Example 4: Game box score
User says: "Show me the full box score for last night's Celtics game"
Actions:

1. Call get_scoreboard(date="<yesterday>") to find the event_id
2. Call get_game_summary(event_id=<id>) for full box score
   Result: Complete box score with per-player stats and scoring plays

Example 5: Injury report
User says: "Who's injured on the Lakers?"
Actions:

1. Call get_injuries()
2. Filter results for Los Angeles Lakers (team_id=13)
   Result: Lakers injury list with player name, position, status, and injury type

Example 6: Player statistics
User says: "Show me LeBron's stats this season"
Actions:

1. Derive season year from currentDate
2. Call get_player_stats(player_id="1966", season_year=<derived_year>)
   Result: Season stats by category with value, rank, and per-game averages

Commands that DO NOT exist — never call these

• get_odds / get_betting_odds — not available. For prediction market odds, use the polymarket or kalshi skill.
• search_teams — does not exist. Use get_teams instead.
• get_box_score — does not exist. Use get_game_summary instead.
• get_player_ratings — does not exist. Use get_player_stats instead.

If a command is not listed in the Commands table above, it does not exist.

Error Handling

When a command fails, do not surface raw errors to the user. Instead:

1. Catch silently and try alternatives
2. If team name given instead of ID, use get_teams to find the ID first
3. Only report failure with a clean message after exhausting alternatives

Troubleshooting

Error: sports-skills command not found
Cause: Package not installed
Solution: Run pip install sports-skills

Error: Team not found by ID
Cause: Wrong or outdated ESPN team ID used
Solution: Call get_teams to get the current list of all 30 NBA teams with their IDs

Error: No data returned for a future game
Cause: ESPN only returns data for completed or in-progress games
Solution: Use get_schedule to see upcoming game details; get_scoreboard only covers active/recent games

Error: Offseason — scoreboard returns 0 events
Cause: No games scheduled during the offseason (July–September)
Solution: Use get_standings or get_news instead; use get_schedule to find when the season resumes