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LeBron James: Ya Think?!?! 🤦🏾♂️ Daniel Roberts: AI is hastening the spread of fake news slop, and it's particularly bad in the sports category for reasons @EllynBriggs @FOS enumerates. Athletes having to set the record straight on a daily basis now due to viral fake quotes and misinfo.
A moving portrait of Spurs legend Tony Parker from Wednesday’s ESPN broadcast of Game 1 of the NBA Finals went viral after it appeared artificial intelligence had been used to alter his appearance. An ESPN spokesperson confirmed to Front Office Sports that AI had been used to create the image—along with two other moving portraits during the broadcast—and the network is “evaluating” whether it will continue to use the technology in Game 2. The concept of ESPN’s promotion was to bring iconic playoff images to life, the spokesperson says, and AI tools were used to create the material. The company views the use of the tech as “an experiment.”
ESPN aired an AI-generated image of former Spurs star point guard and four-time champion Tony Parker smiling and waving his finger up and down. The image had Parker wearing a racing Spurs jacket with the Western Conference logo on one sleeve and what looked to be an American flag on the other. Parker was also wearing a black and gray hat sideways with confetti falling in the background.
The 2026 NBA Finals will be ABC’s first NBA Finals presented with 1080P HDR capture and transmission. Additional highlights include: 52 total cameras; 14 high frame rate super slow-motion cameras; Four native 4K high frame rate cameras, including SkyCam; New 4K replay zoom capabilities for enhanced review angles; EVS XtraMotion generative AI replay system (Super Motion, Motion Blur, Cinematic effects); RF Megalodon camera system featuring Canon C80; Full IP 2110 transmission workflow supported by Game Creek Video.
Kevin Garnett: “I like young fella. Young fella is a throwback. Young fella could’ve played in our time, just because you had to be that type of dude. Matter of fact, Anthony Edwards reminds me of a lot of the guys. Name somebody — Gary Payton, AI, Steph, Jordan. Everybody you would name has an attitude like that. Everybody thinks Jordan is just some cool-ass billionaire now. Alright, yeah, he got that too. My point is this: you’ve got to have an unbelievable confidence in what you’re doing. And I really feel like the work builds up that confidence when you’ve been in the gym. I don’t think people understand. I don’t know today, because I haven’t been in the gym and worked with somebody for a very long time. But when you said you was in the gym, you was in the gym. Man, when I’m shooting in the gym — yeah, I was really in the gym, shooting in the gym.”
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Fresh off a historic 40-point performance in the finals of the Unrivaled season, WNBA player Kelsey Plum is taking a different shot: an AI twin. Fans can now voice call with a digital version of the Los Angeles Sparks star. Plum announced the twin on her personal Instagram account on March 6, asking her AI self for advice on her ponytail and coffee versus energy drink. Plum is the first professional female athlete to launch a verified AI digital twin. It’s a move that’s earning plaudits as a way for women in sports to take control of their image and expand their reach. “The opportunity to have a twin that can connect with fans, with young people, people that love basketball, people that are just interested in sports. The range is endless,” Plum says. “It’s where we are in society, and I think you are either gonna get with it or get lost.”
Lou Williams when Sixers traded Allen Iverson: So, I had 40 on Monday. I had 40 on Wednesday. I had 40 on Friday. Got on a bus. 9 hours drive to Little Rock, Arkansas. I wasn't in my room 30 minutes. I get to my room in Little Rock, Arkansas. 30 minutes somewhere nearby. The GM called my room from the Philadelphia 76ers. He said, "Hey, there is a noon flight. We got to get you to Philly ASAP." I said, "What's up?" They said, "We ain't got time right now, but turn ESPN on." They had traded Allen Iverson. So the one week that I leave to the D-League, AI had got traded. So they scrambled. I get to Arkansas at 9:30. I'm on a flight at 12:00 going to Philly. I get there at halftime. They playing against the Washington Wizards. I played the whole third and fourth quarter and never turned back.
37 Partners, a talent and intellectual property services company co-founded and chaired by former NBAer Metta World Peace, on Wednesday is unveiling a new platform that seeks to help athletes and entertainers create, manage and monetize AI-generated digital likenesses of themselves. The platform is called Perpetual Celebrity Commerce (PCC) and powered by technology from Johnsmith.ai, a Chinese AI firm that specializes in digital twins and has worked with LVMH and Estee Lauder, among other major consumer brands. PCC will enable its users to generate AI avatars of themselves and license them for virtual brand activations (including multilingual translations), plus offer athletes legal support (e.g., cease-and-desist letters) against unauthorized use of their likenesses online.
Former NBA star Matt Barnes is pushing back on rumors that claimed he was scammed by an AI model. A rumor circulating around the internet got fresh air from another former NBAer, Gilbert Arenas, who addressed the gossip on his own podcast. Apparently, as the internet says, Barnes fell victim to a catfish who managed to walk off with $61,000 of his money. 'I've sat back and watched the internet lie about me the whole year,' Barnes said in a video posted to his Instagram account. 'The whole year -- lies from me being gay, to me talking abortion to me telling some girl not to do a reality show.' 'I get back from Dubai ... I see all of a sudden I'm suing an A.I. model, or I got played by an A.I. model.' 'You guys believe I got played by an A.I. model, and I'm suing 'em? Where the f*** did you guys get this from?!'
Pablo Torre : So I checked in with Malik's parents, Michael and Deena. (They are lovely.) They now understand what happened. And Malik has deleted the above IG video. I also talked to @ClutchPoints. Which apologized and quickly corrected the post (see below). Now: how was this mistake made? I suspect that AI was used to scrape my episode's transcript, and it generated that erroneous summary. (You may recall my frustration with this from the Mark Cuban debates.) Because anyone who listened knows I never reported that. But I do admit I may be responsible, in part because this week, before all this, @pablofindsout hired an actual witch to curse AI. Quote: "AI needs to slip up so badly that everyone can see that this is a bad investment." I am now worried that this is a Monkey's Paw scenario.
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Before the game, a fan gave Jordan Poole a signed Allen Iverson autograph. He said AI was his favorite player. Could Jordan Poole be an Iverson-type player for this team, maybe with better defense? Zion: First off, I’m going to give respect to AI—the Answer, a legend in the game. Me and Poole have talked about it. I’m pretty sure he has a tattoo of Allen Iverson—just out of respect. He definitely looks up to him, studies film. I think with the Iverson cuts we can set up for Poole, he can really take advantage. And I’ll say this—social media has kind of portrayed an image of him, but when you get around him, he’s a dog. He’s a competitor. He’s a good dude to be around. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again—I’m glad he’s on this team with us.
The creators of an AI tool and Discord community that allowed people to create AI videos of NBA stars says that it got a cease-and-desist letter from lawyers representing LeBron James. This marks one of the first known times that a high-profile celebrity has threatened legal action against an AI company for enabling the creation of nonconsensual AI imagery of their likeness. It is also one of the first times we’ve seen a celebrity take legal action against a type of nonconsensual but not strictly sexual type of AI-generated content, which is rampant on Instagram and other social media.
The NBA has invested in predictive analytics company nVenue through its venture vehicle, NBA Equity, with the league’s Head of Gaming and New Business Ventures, Scott Kaufman-Ross, joining as a board observer for the AI-powered startup. A graduate of the NBA Launchpad program earlier this year, nVenue is also launching a new collection of basketball micro-betting markets that will be licensed to sportsbooks.
“I didn’t build Reebok all by myself,” said O’Neal, who won three straight NBA titles with the Los Angeles Lakers and another with the Miami Heat. He signed with Reebok in 1992 and made the brand popular with his first signature shoe, called the Shaq Attaq. Iverson’s signature shoes, The Question and The Answer, were some of the top sellers in the industry. He signed a lifetime endorsement and marketing contract with Reebok in 2001. “I needed A.I. to be vice president because if you’re a guard, you want to see a legendary guard,” he said. “I wanted to do a show that’s not scripted. Not polished. I wanted it to be real work.”