“He tipped the ball, I ain’t air balling like that,” Kevin Durant reacted angrily on a call he didn’t receive. When Durant attempted a three-pointer and the ball didn’t flush through the net, he grumbled to the referee about how a Lakers player touched the ball with his finger. If you see the replay, you know it’s a hair-scratcher of a call one might need to make. It’s the same tale from the NBA – officiating mishaps. Yes, it’s not a significant incident. But, of course, as a player, you want the game fair and square.

With the current technology changes in most sports of getting automated calls, NBA commissioner Adam Silver has his eyes set on another budding technology, costing around $100,000 to set it on each tennis court.

In tennis, we have the Hawk-Eye, a technology used to adjudge line calls. In the meantime, Sony bought this technology, and they intended to market it for most sports. It came first in cricket for broadcasting when Paul Hawkins invented it in 1999. It simplifies the officials’ tasks and enhances the flow of the game. Similarly, Adam Silver craves to bring Hawk Eye to basketball.

You see, the game gets slow when the officials take to the monitor screens to judge a call – for example, out of bounds. It’s never an easy call with multiple touches on the ball, which ultimately causes the officials to break their brains out. Simple idea?

Automate it!

Adam Silver pointed out an illustration from tennis in his interview with CNBC. “Take tennis, for example, where a technology called Hawk-Eye, which is now owned by Sony, where they have removed at the U.S. Open, the line judges. It’s all automated,” Silver mentioned. One cannot imagine tennis without officials, but it’s the exact purpose of the system – to limit human error and make the game perfect. The traditionalists struggle to articulate how their love for human interaction creates confusion about whether to use technology. Well, we all do.

What’s sports without some bad officiating and the drama that follows with it? Regarding the players and teams, they experience significant hardships. Silver wants to bring Hawk-Eye to the NBA and explains what’s it all about in his terms.

Adam Silver’s million-dollar idea to ease the burden on NBA officials!

“We’re hoping through Hawk-Eye type of technology that we can automate those calls,” said Silver. “Sometimes people watch it, think it’s just a video replay. It’s not video, it’s an AI recreation of the ball hitting.” Having this could help speed the game up, which lasts roughly 2 hours and 15 minutes on average at this time.

Sometimes the game is all about momentum. If a player dunks the ball, it automatically charges the team all the way to the core. Yet, a whistle blows and you have a contentious call. Boom, there goes your momentum! It can be hard on some teams who use this momentum to stage a comeback.

Therefore, automating these calls can help officials get the right calls for the team’s benefit. Regardless, Silver pointed to using technology for some decisions that demand automation. Other calls are subjective and bringing in technology dampens the process. Silver detailed training officials to get the best possible results could solve the problem.

If you look at soccer, they have VAR. Although doubts linger about using the technology because of incorrect decisions and using it for subjective calls, it works well with offsides. European soccer competitions have semi-automated offside calls, not disrupting the game flow and getting the right decisions on point.

To sum up, it’s an exciting time for the NBA fraternity. As fans, we want to see technology used to enhance diverse facets of the game. But a four-point line? Na. Even Adam Silver understands so. Focus on the fundamentals of basketball, players. The fundamentals!