Generative artificial intelligence (AI) has the public’s eye and it’s making its way through a variety of sectors, including the sports world.
ChatGPT is just one of the newer models of a chatbot. With it gaining more and more buzz, we conducted an experiment, asking ChatGPT several NBA-related questions to see how precise its capabilities are.
Which NBA franchises have the most championships?
We started with a softball question and the chatbot had no issue with it, naming the Celtics, Lakers, Bulls, Warriors, and Spurs as the top-5.
Since ChatGPT only has knowledge up until September of 2021, it did not include the Warriors’ most recent championship (2022) in its details, though otherwise, it was accurate. It, however, hinted toward the Lakers’ multiple-city history while giving the results.
It is worth noting that the NBA has had different league configurations and names throughout its history, so some franchises may have won championships while they were part of a different league or in a different city. However, these are the current NBA franchises with the most championships.
Top-5 in terms of points scored from the 2003 NBA Draft?
ChatGPT gave the correct output in terms of top-5 ranking (LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, and Kyle Korver).
The bot did add some interesting commentary.
It’s worth noting that some players from the 2003 NBA Draft, such as Chris Kaman and Darko Milicic, had solid NBA careers but did not score as many points as these top 5 players.
Some may deem ChatGPT’s response as editorializing, though that sentence is technically correct depending on the definition of “solid.”
Kaman, who was the No. 6 pick in the draft, played 13 years in the league (only 11 players spent more time in the league) and of the 47 players from the draft who actually appeared in the NBA, Kaman ranks 19th in win shares. As for Milicic, he had a 10-year career (27 of the 58 players drafted have at least 10 years of NBA experience) and his career win shares rank 32nd. While both, to different extents, didn’t live up to their top-6 draft billings, both made a career in the NBA, which is indeed “solid” in my book.
Where does Michael Jordan rank on the Wizards’ PER franchise leaders?
I wanted to see how ChatGPT performed with “advanced” NBA metrics and the results were interesting. It indicated that MJ’s PER was 19.3, though according to basketball reference, it’s 19.9.
ChatGPT also informed me that Jordan appeared in a total of 142 games for Washington, indicating that it did not meet the minimum threshold to be considered a franchise’s leader.
While that PER is a solid number, Jordan did not play enough games or minutes to rank among the franchise leaders in PER for the Wizards/Bullets franchise.
I was unaware that there was an official requirement for minutes or games played from an all-time standpoint in this category.
The NBA provides no guidelines for career PER leaders, though many NBA stats do have a minimum to qualify as a league leader, such as individual season leader in field goal percentage (minimum of 300 field goals made) or career leaders in points (400 games played or 10,000 points). Perhaps ChatGPT applied rules that pertain to other stats to the PER inquiry.
In case you were wondering, MJ ranks top-10 in PER in Wizards franchise history. That’s just one of our 48 Facts about Jordan’s time with the Wizards.
Can you give me the dates of each trade by NBA teams during the 2020-21 season?
ChatGPT could not provide me with a list of every NBA trade during the 2020-21 NBA season. Instead, it was only able to give me the “notable” ones.
After asking for the full list, it provide me a longer list that contained only “major trades” that still didn’t have every trade included.
Providing every trade that occurred during the 2020-21 NBA season would be a time-consuming task, as there were many trades that took place throughout the season involving a large number of players and draft picks. It would require a significant amount of research and data collection to compile a comprehensive list of every trade, along with the relevant details for each trade.
While I don’t have an exact estimate of the time it would take to provide every trade from the 2020-21 NBA season, it would likely take several hours to compile and organize all the relevant information. If you’re looking for a comprehensive list of all the trades, I would recommend checking out a reputable sports news website or database that specializes in tracking trade activity in the NBA.
ChatGPT also got some of the dates wrong. For example, the trade deadline was March 25, 2021, while ChatGPT credited many of the deals made on that Thursday to March 16, 2021, including the Cavaliers’ JaVale McGee trade.
Conclusion
There’s a lot of talk about the future of ChatGPT and its applications. While it’s certainly advanced, it’s surely going to get more precise as it continues to evolve. Perhaps, it’ll even read this article as it grows its knowledge base.
Questions were asked to the ChatGPT Feb 13 Version’s Free Reseach Preview.
