Genius Analytics Move Gives WNBA Teams an Assist

WNBA team analytics experts say the league’s advanced analytics partnership with Genius Sports is changing the way they think about and see the game. These pros say the early returns are noticeable on the court.

The multiyear analytics partnership deal recently wrapped up its second season but the early returns are noticeable and measurable. That’s important, since the league has arguably never been more popular or more valuable than now.

This pact aims to help elevate the level of play to match those rising expectations from a growing fanbase. It allows analysts access to bespoke, searchable data for real-time analysis of the league’s players in training, practice, and games for the first time.

The Genius Sports technology is powered by AI and computer vision with an array of cameras installed in every club’s arena capturing low-latency, 3D player pose and ball-tracking data. Through its AI platform GeniusIQ, Genius Sports then provides teams with advanced statistics measuring everything from shot quality to paint touches to defensive matchup data, and much more.

The WNBA is the first U.S. women’s professional league to use the optical tracking technology, which analysts say has been transformative for its franchises.

“It’s definitely game-changing technology,” asserts Emma Schmidt, Data Scientist for the Phoenix Mercury. “It really can be used across the board, and its biggest strength is just its robustness of data…You can drill down to a singular dribble in a singular game. The projects are endless. The more time we have to drill down into the data, it creates an advantage.”

Schmidt and other data pros say they have been capitalizing on these advantages for the past two seasons since the “W” started using the Genius Sports platform. While several of these experts were open to discussing the benefits of accessing the technology, they did not want to open their data playbook too wide, lest they tip off rivals.

They did share that the system helps them surface player tendencies, such as how they drive to the basket, whether a team’s taking too many pull-up jumpers in transition, or tracking stats, such as deflections, that used to be hand counted.

“We can find player tendencies, like Player A shoots 50% when they drive right, but they shoot 30% when they drive left. So, we need to force Player A to go left,” Schmidt explains.

Scoring Data Discoveries from Deep Dives

Madi Schiller, Data Scientist & Player Personnel Manager for the Minnesota Lynx, is in the WNBA’s advanced analytics vanguard. The 27-year-old is believed to be the WNBA’s first full-time data scientist, joining the analytics-embracing Lynx in the fall of 2022.

She says the Genius Sports platform has become integral for her research and the team uses it whenever they can: pre- and postgame, offseason and in-season, player development, strength and conditioning, as well as game strategy.

“There have been times the Genius Sports tracking data validated something we saw on film—or revealed things we didn’t expect to see,” said Schiller. “Our coaching staff is very eager to access data insights. The video platform is very helpful in communicating to the coaches. You can tag a play, they watch it, see the data behind it, and then maybe they see something on why it worked.”

The analysts and coaches are sometimes like detectives, following clues to find what led to a bucket, turnover, or other outcome. Schiller and other analysts say the platform is the perfect tool for solving these mysteries and preparing athletes and coaches to crack the code for the next challenge.

She adds, “The tracking data has brought an extremely large, new layer of insights, as the ball and players are all tracked. You can’t see that with just the play-by-play stats or the traditional box score stats. One of the main benefits is it kind of helps us to understand the why and how of the game of basketball, not just the what.”

Customizing Content

The ability to customize the platform allows teams to find novel approaches and use cases that may give them an advantage over rival teams, whether it’s pulling stats live and pinging the API during a game to provide coaches with real-time assessments, or analyzing an upcoming opponent’s strengths and weaknesses.

The system’s API also allows teams to generate custom reports and models that work best for their franchise.

While every team in the league has access to the Genius Sports platform, they clearly don’t all use it the same way—or the same amount.

The Mercury’s analytics staff are proud to be known as “power users,” given the number of queries they make and the amount of data they pull from the system.

Preston Fawcett, Director, Player Personnel, Phoenix Mercury, said, “We have a great team that has built some internal tools, pulling the data directly from the Genius platform that they pull up on an iPad at halftime and say, ‘OK, we’re giving up too much in transition, or they’ve taken too many wide open catch-and-shoot 3s.’”

Fawcett had experience using the platform in his previous roles with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and Portland Trail Blazers, and said he’s been impressed with the commitment by both the WNBA and Genius Sports to bringing this technology to the women’s pro game.

In addition to providing data-led coaching tools across the NBA, Genius Sports also provides them to England’s Premier League and other European soccer leagues. This includes the ProView3D feature, which provides analysts with immersive 3D replays, allowing them to review plays through a player’s eyes.

Back on the hardwoods of the WNBA, the GeniusIQ platform allows trained eyes to track physical movements in novel ways and easily isolate plays that are a proverbial needle in a haystack. Fawcett notes, “I can find all our shots taken with less than six seconds on the shot clock, when we’re in the lead, in the second half of home games. It’s ridiculous the level of detail you can get into, and it’s super easy to understand.”

The platform opens up new avenues of inspection for intrepid analysts in the WNBA and other leagues, who are still learning to harness the Genius platform and enhancing their ability to translate the data into actionable strategies in games, practice, and scouting.

The Lynx’s Schiller, who played basketball collegiately, said working with the Genius system has been educational for the entire organization, including her. “I can definitely say I thought I knew a lot about basketball until I got here, and I figured out that there’s so much more to basketball than I ever knew was possible (and) the biggest advantage of the platform is who can understand it and translate it best to the coaches. ”

Genius